Issued  September  15, 1910. 

U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


FARMERS’  BULLETIN  411 


BY 


DAN  T.  GRAY, 

Professor  of  Animal  Industry ,  Alabama  Polytechnic  Institute; 
Expert  in  Animal  Husbandry ,  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE. 

1910. 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 


U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture, 

Bureau  of  Animal  Industry, 
Washington ,  D.  C.,  April  29,  1910. 

Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith,  and  to  recommend  for 
publication  as  a  Farmers’  Bulletin,  a  paper  entitled  “Feeding  Hogs 
in  the  South,”  by  Mr.  Dan  T.  Gray,  professor  of  animal  husbandry 
at  the  Alabama  Polytechnic  Institute  and  expert  in  animal  husbandry 
in  this  Bureau. 

Of  all  the  branches  of  animal  husbandry  practiced  in  the  South, 
hog  raising  is  the  one  that  has  been  proved  beyond  a  question  to  be 
profitable,  and  there  is  a  constant  demand  from  the  farmers  of  that 
section  for  information  and  advice  of  a  practical  character  upon  the 
subject.  The  present  work  is  intended  to  replace  Farmers’  Bulletin 
100,  “Hog  Raising  in  the  South,”  which  is  now  considerably  out  of 
date. 

Very  respectfully,  A.  D.  Melvin, 

Chief  of  Bureau. 

Hon.  James  Wilson, 

Secretary  of  Agriculture. 


CONTENTS. 


Tage. 

Introduction .  5 

Too  much  corn  feeding  not  profitable .  6 

The  sow  and  the  sucking  pigs .  8 

Shelter .  8 

Feed  for  sow  before  farrowing .  9 

Feed  for  sow  after  farrowing .  10 

Feed  for  pigs  before  weaning .  11 

Weaning  the  pigs .  12 

Concentrates  to  supplement  corn .  13 

Dairy  by-products .  13 

Cowpeas  and  soy  beans .  15 

Rice  feeds., .  16 

Middlings .  18 

Tankage  and  meat  meal. . . .  19 

Cotton-seed  meal .  20 

Pasture  crops  to  supplement  corn .  21 

Permanent  pastures .  22 

Rape  pasture .  23 

Chufas . 24 

Plants  for  winter  pasture .  25 

Plants  for  summer  pasture .  25 

Cowpeas  as  a  grazing  crop .  26 

Soy-bean  pasture .  27 

Peanuts .  29 

Alfalfa .  31 

Sorghum . 32 

Amount  of  grain  to  feed  when  hogs  are  on  pasture .  34 

Root  and  tuber  crops .  36 

Crop  succession  for  hog  feeding .  38 

Finishing  hogs  after  pasture  crops  are  exhausted .  38 

Increase  in  soil  fertility  due  to  grazing  hogs .  39 

Breeds  of  swine .  40 

Large  Yorkshire .  40 

Tam  worth .  41 

Berkshire .  42 

Poland-China .  43 

Duroc-Jersey .  44 

Chester  White .  45 

Conclusions .  47 

411 


3 


IL  LUSTRATIONS. 


Page. 

Fig.  1.  Lovejoy  portable  hog  house,  end  elevation .  9 

2.  Bonham  portable  hog  house .  10 

3.  Bonham  portable  hog  house,  showing  plan  of  construction .  11 

4.  A  good  2-year-old  Large  Yorkshire  sow .  41 

5.  A  good  type  of  Tarnworth  boar .  42 

6.  Berkshire  sow  in  show  condition .  43 

7.  Poland-China  brood  sow  in  pasture  condition .  44 

8.  Duroc-Jersey  sow  in  fair  show  condition .  45 

9.  Chester  White  sow  in  show  condition .  46 

4 

411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  southern  people  are  large  meat  consumers,  but  small  meat 
producers.  In  fact,  the  South  consumes  more  meat  per  capita  than 
any  other  section  of  our  country,  but  a  large  proportion  of  this  meat 
is  shipped  into  the  South  from  other  sections  of  the  country.  To 
give  an  instance,  during  the  year  1907  there  were  but  15,151  home- 
raised  animals  slaughtered  in  the  city  of  Birmingham,  Ala.  (this 
includes  cattle,  veal,  hogs,  sheep,  and  kids),  while  there  were  36,097 
live  western  animals  brought  into  the  city  and  slaughtered.  In  addi¬ 
tion  to  these  western  live  animals  brought  into  the  city,  there  were 
5,781,470  pounds  of  fresh  meat  shipped  in  and  sold,  as  well  as  thou¬ 
sands  of  pounds  of  western  cured  meat.®  This  means  that  more  than 
a  million  dollars  go  out  of  the  city  of  Birmingham  alone  each  year 
into  distant  States  for  meats,  and  this  money  could  all  be  kept  at 
home  if  the  southern  farmer  would  but  produce  the  meat. 

Pork  can  be  made  as  cheaply,  and  perhaps  more  cheaply,  in  the 
South  than  in  any  other  section  of  the  country.  And  there  are  many 
reasons  why  our  southern  farmers  should  introduce  this  line  of  animal 
production  into  their  farming  system.  One  of  these  reasons  is  men¬ 
tioned  above — the  money  spent  for  meat  by  the  southern  people 
would  be  kept  at  home.  Another  is  the  influence  it  would  probably 
have  on  the  price  of  cotton.  It  will  never  be  possible  for  the  South 
to  control  the  price  of  cotton  until  the  southern  farmer  places  him¬ 
self  in  such  a  position  that  he  can  hold  the  crop  after  it  is  produced. 
So  long  as  all  the  farmers  are  required  to  sell  the  entire  crop  of  cot¬ 
ton  each  fall,  so  long  will  its  price  be  an  unreliable  and  unstable  one. 
The  only  way  by  which  the  farmer  can  place  himself  in  a  position 
where  he  will  not  have  to  sell  all  his  cotton  each  fall  is  to  produce 
something  in  addition  to  cotton;  and  unquestionably  one  of  the  best 
supplements  to  the  cotton  crop  would  be  the  raising  of  hogs.  The 
hog  business  can  be  so  managed  that  the  owner  can  have  money  com¬ 
ing  in  from  it  at  least  twice  a  year,  which  would  enable  him  to  hold 
his  cotton  as  long  as  he  pleases. 

aThis  information  was  furnished  by  Mr.  E.  M.  Duncan,  city  bacteriologist  and 
chief  of  meat  and  milk  inspection  of  Birmingham,  Ala. 

411 


5 


6 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


Furthermore,  the  hog  is  especially  adapted  to  the  farmer  with  small 
capital,  as  but  a  small  amount  of  money  is  required  with  which  to 
begin  the  business,  and  returns  begin  to  come  in  within  a  few  months 
after  it  is  started.  The  sow  is  a  rapid  producer.  Money  is  turned 
rapidly.  With  SI 25  invested  in  1  boar  and  5  to  8  sows  it  is  easily 
possible  to  have  for  sale  from  5,000  to  8,000  pounds  of  pork  (live 
weight)  in  a  year.  In  other  words,  the  yearly  sales  should  be  from 
two  to  four  times  the  amount  of  investment. 

TOO  MUCH  CORN  FEEDING  NOT  PROFITABLE. 

It  is  sometimes  claimed  that  hogs  can  not  be  raised  and  finished  at 
a  profit  in  the  South  since  corn  has  advanced  in  price.  The  farmer 
is  often  told  that  he  can  buy  his  pork  cheaper  than  he  can  make  it. 
While  pork  has  not  advanced  in  price  as  rapidly  as  has  corn,  still  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  cheapest  side  meat  costs  the  consumer 
from  14  to  15  cents  a  pound,  and  that  the  shoulders  and  hams  cost 
from  18  to  22  cents  a  pound.  It  is  no  doubt  true  that  the  southern 
farmer  who  imitates  his  northern  brother  in  his  pork-making  opera¬ 
tions  could  buy  the  meat  cheaper  than  he  could  make  it.  But  if  he 
takes  his  own  conditions  as  he  finds  them  and  uses  these  conditions 
intelligently,  he  can  produce  pork  cheaper  than  it  is  possible  to  pro¬ 
duce  it  in  other  sections.  But  he  can  not  compete  with  those  por¬ 
tions  of  the  country  where  corn  is  comparatively  cheap  if  he  also  feeds 
corn  alone.  The  southern  farmer  must  economize  in  the  use  of  this 
feed  on  account  of  its  high  price.  The  South,  in  fact,  feeds  too  much 
corn,  as  a  sole  feed,  to  hogs;  there  are  cheap  feeds  which  should  be 
used  along  with  corn. 

It  is  generally  considered  that  there  is  no  other  feed  equal  to  corn 
for  pork  production.  This  is  true,  provided  the  corn  is  used  judi¬ 
ciously.  But  if  it  be  fed  alone  for  any  length  of  time  there  are  few 
feeds  which  are  poorer,  as  the  experiments  described  below  strikingly 
demonstrate.  If,  however,  corn  is  fed  in  combination  with  other 
feeds,  its  use  is  to  be  highly  commended,  and  it  can  be  used  to  great 
economical  advantage,  too,  even  though  it  sells  upon  the  market  as 
high  as  $1  a  bushel. 

The  hog  is  not  adapted  to  living  on  corn  alone,  and  when  we  require 
it  of  him  we  are  forcing  him  to  do  a  thing  which  is  not  consistent  with 
his  nature.  Man  likes  a  mixture  of  feeds  or  a  change  in  diet;  so  do 
the  lower  animals.  The  hog  in  its  wild  state  is  omnivorous,  feeding 
upon  roots,  nuts,  fish,  grass,  fruit,  snakes,  etc.;  in  fact,  but  few  feeds 
can  be  mentioned  that  he  will  not  eat  if  he  be  given  the  opportunity. 
Our  domesticated  hogs  have  inherited  the  tendency  to  select  their 
feed  from  a  variety  of  substances,  and  when  we  inclose  them  in  a  pen 

411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


1 


and  give  but  one  feed  we  can  feel  assured  that  we  are  not  allowing 
them  to  reach  their  highest  possibilities. 

Probably  those  who  claim  that  pork  can  not  be  produced  in  the 
South  at  a  profit  mean  that  it  can  not  be  produced  on  corn  alone  at 
a  profit;  if  so,  that  is  entirely  correct.  Experimental  data  show  that 
pork  can  not  be  profitably  raised  and  finished  upon  corn  alone  when 
corn  sells  for  70  cents  a  bushel.  The  following  table,  which  includes 
feeding  experiments  from  several  Southern  and  Western  States, 
clearly  demonstrates  the  fact  that  the  man  who  tries  to  finish  hogs 
on  corn  alone  is  following  a  losing  business: 


Table  1. — Feeding  experiments  showing  effects  of  fattening  hogs  on  corn  alone. a 


N  um- 

Length  of 
experi¬ 
ment. 

Average 

daily 

gains. 

Pounds 
of  feed 

Cost  of  100  pounds  gain  when  corn  is— 

Station. 

her  of 
pigs. 

to  make 
100 

pounds 

gain. 

40  cents. 

50  cents. 

60  cents. 

70  cents. 

Texas . 

10 

Days. 

83 

Pounds. 
0.  46 

762 

$5.  44 

$6.  80 

$8. 15 

.19.  52 

Do . 

10 

83 

.43 

868 

6.  20 

7.  75 

9.  30 

10.  85 

Tennessee . 

3 

60 

1.00 

460 

3.  88 

4.  10 

4.  93 

5.  75 

Do . 

3 

60 

1.00 

416 

2.97 

3.72 

4.  46 

5.20 

Do . 

7 

.50 

410 

2.  93 

3.  60 

4.  39 

5.  12 

Alabama . 

3 

60 

806 

5.  76 

7.  20 

8.  63 

10.  07 

Do . 

3 

35 

670 

4.  79 

5.  98 

7. 18 

8.  37 

Do . 

3 

56 

.40 

621 

4.  43 

5.  54 

6.  65 

7.  76 

Do . 

15 

96 

.69 

611 

4.  36 

5.  45 

6.  55 

7.64 

Indiana . 

3 

70 

1.56 

432 

3.09 

3.  86 

4.  63 

5.  40 

Do . 

4 

127 

.67 

520 

3.72 

4.  65 

5.  57 

6.  50 

Do . 

10 

30 

1.  40 

443 

3. 16 

3.  96 

4.  75 

5.  54 

Do . 

4 

85 

.55 

557 

3.98 

4.  98 

5.  97 

6.96 

Oklahoma . 

4 

126 

.62 

470 

3.  36 

4.  19 

5.  03 

5.  87 

Do  . 

4 

84 

.50 

560 

4.  00 

5.  00 

6.00 

7.00 

Do . 

5 

55 

.63 

801 

5.  72 

7.  15 

8.  58 

10.01 

Iowa . 

6 

49 

2.  08 

461 

3.  29 

4.  12 

4.  95 

5.74 

Wisconsin . 

35 

1.69 

459 

3.  28 

4.  09 

4.  87 

5.  74 

Do . 

35 

1.41 

499 

3.  57 

4.  45 

5.  35 

6.24 

North  Carolina . 

5 

90 

.18 

1,284 

9.  17 

11.46 

13.75 

16.04 

Virginia . 

8 

90 

.24 

1,263 

9.02 

11.28 

13.  55 

15.79 

Colorado . 

4 

104 

.70 

538 

3.84 

4.  80 

5.  76 

6.72 

Nebraska . 

4 

119 

.95 

583 

4.  16 

5.21 

6.  25 

7.  29 

Do . 

29 

84 

1.05 

452 

3.  23 

4.04 

4.84 

5.65 

Wyoming . 

3 

77 

.99 

485 

3  46 

4.33 

5.  20 

6.06 

Ohio . 

6 

66 

.57 

618 

4.  42 

5.52 

6.  62 

7.73 

Average . 

580 

4. 15 

5. 18 

6.21 

7. 25 

a  Taken  from  Alabama  Experiment  Station  Bulletin  143. 


The  varying  amounts  of  corn  necessary  to  make  100  pounds  gain 
as  shown  in  Table  1  may  be  due  to  one  of  many  causes,  such  as  dif¬ 
ferences  in  breed,  in  the  quality  of  the  individuals,  in  the  size  of  the 
pigs  at  the  beginning,  in  the  length  of  the  experiment,  in  the  climatic 
conditions,  in  the  seasons  of  the  year,  etc.®  The  farmer,  under  ordi¬ 
nary  conditions,  however,  will  not  vary  much  from  the  above  aver¬ 
ages.  The  table  shows  that  when  corn  is  worth  70  cents  a  bushel 
the  cost  of  each  pound  of  gain  will  be  just  about  7  cents;  when  corn 


a  Similar  variations  will  be  noticed  in  the  figures  for  other  feeds  as  given  in  succeed¬ 
ing  tables,  and  these  variations  may  be  explained  in  the  same  way. 

411 


8 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


is  selling  at  60  cents  a  bushel  each  pound  of  gain  put  on  will  cost  6 
cents;  when  corn  is  worth  50  cents  a  bushel  each  pound  of  gain  will 
cost  5  cents;  and  when  corn  is  worth  only  40  cents  a  bushel  pork  can 
be  finished  for  only  4  cents  a  pound.  It  appears,  therefore,  that 
when  70-cent  corn  is  fed  to  5-cent  hogs  the  feeder  is  losing  20  cents  a 
bushel  on  his  corn.  Seven-cent  pork  must  go  along  with  70-cent 
corn  if  the  owner  is  to  strike  even  on  feeding  corn  alone.  As  a  gen¬ 
eral  thing  the  farmers  do  not  get  7  cents  for  their  hogs.  If  corn  were 
worth  but  40  cents  a  bushel,  as  it  often  is  in  some  of  the  Western 
States,  it  would  be  a  very  profitable  thing  to  raise  corn  and  feed  it 
to  5  and  6  cent  hogs;  good  money  could  be  made  out  of  it,  as  the 
farmer  would  then  be  selling  his  40-cent  corn,  by  means  of  hogs,  at 
50  to  60  cents  a  bushel.  But  even  in  the  corn-belt  States  it  is  more 
profitable  to  supplement  the  corn  with  other  concentrates  or  green 
crops,  and  this  practice  is  followed  by  the  best  farmers. 

THE  SOW  AND  THE  SUCKING  PIGS. 

To  produce  good,  strong,  healthy  pigs  they  must  be  looked  after 
before  they  are  born.  The  mother  while  pregnant  must  be  cared 
for  and  fed  properly  if  she  is  to  give  birth  to  a  good  litter  of  pigs. 
As  a  rule  the  mother  is  neglected  during  the  period  of  pregnancy,  the 
owner  seeming  to  think  that  the  application  of  care  and  feed  after 
she  has  farrowed  is  all  that  is  required.  But  we  should  know  that 
a  poorly  nourished  pregnant  mother  means  a  weak,  sickly  litter  of 
pigs. 

SHELTER. 

In  the  South,  the  far  South  especially,  very  little  shelter  is  needed 
except  at  farrowing  time.  There  is  no  occasion  for  expensively 
constructed  buildings.  Of  course,  at  farrowing  time  the  mother 
should  always  be  supplied  with  a  building  that  will  afford  shelter 
from  the  rain  and  the  wind  for  both  the  mother  and  the  pigs  until 
the  pigs  become  dry.  If  the  wind  strikes  the  young  jugs  when  they 
are  first  born  they  will  often  chill  to  death.  Each  farmer  can  make 
his  own  shelter,  to  be  in  keeping  with  his  surroundings,  but  probably 
the  best  and  most  economical  building  that  can  be  made  is  the  jiort- 
able  hog  house  (figs.  1,  2,  and  3).  These  houses  may  vary  in  size; 
those  with  floor  dimensions  of  6  by  8  feet,  6  by  9  feet,  or  8  by  8  feet 
will  be  found  most  satisfactory.  The  roof  need  not  be  over  7  feet 
high  at  the  highest  point.  The  house  may  be  made  on  runners  to 
facilitate  moving  it  about.  To  prevent  the  sow  from  crushing  the 
pigs  at  farrowing  time,  a  scantling  should  be  fastened  to  the  inside 
of  the  house,  about  8  inches  from  the  ground,  projecting  about  10 
inches  toward  the  center  of  the  pen.  The  small  j)igs  can  run  under 

411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


9 


this  protection  and  keep  the  mother  from  lying  upon  them.  There 
is  no  necessity  for  supplying  a  floor  for  these  houses;  some  straw  at 
farrowing  time  is  all  that  is  required. 

FEED  FOR  SOW  BEFORE  FARROWING. 

It  will  be  shown  later  on  that  pastures  are  the  basis  for  the  profit¬ 
able  handling  of  hogs.  The  pigs  should  be  gotten  up  to  weaning 
time  as  cheaply  as  possible,  and  the  cheapest  way  to  do  this  is  to 
have  a  pasture  for  the  sows  to  run  upon  every  month  in  the  year. 
It  is  very  little  trouble  to  have  pastures  practically  the  year  round 
in  the  South.  (See  pp.  22-34.)  Of  course  the  sow  should  be 
provided  with  some  grain  in  addition  to  the  pasture,  but  the  pastures 
will  save  a  great  amount  of  grain.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
the  sow  must  be  nour¬ 
ished  in  such  a  way 
that  the  pigs  will  come 
into  the  world  strong 
and  healthy.  Corn 
alone  will  not  keep 
the  sow  in  a  good 
healthy  condition, 
neither  will  it  develop 
the  pigs  in  the  mother’s 
body.  But  corn  along 
with  a  good  legumi¬ 
nous  pasture  will  pro¬ 
vide  her  with  a  good 
ration.  When  pas¬ 
tures  are  not  available 
such  feeds  as  skim  milk  FlG‘  L-Lovejoy  P°rtable  b°s  bouse> end  elevation- 

and  bran  should  be  used  along  with  the  corn.  Not  more  than 
one  half  of  her  ration  should  ever  be  made  up  of  corn;  the  other 
half  should  be  made  up  of  a  feed  that  will  furnish  plenty  of 
ash  and  protein  to  build  up  the  litter  of  pigs  in  the  body.  Legu¬ 
minous  pastures  are  the  cheapest  feeds  that  can  be  found  to  go 
along  with  the  corn.  With  a  good  leguminous  pasture  the  sow 
will  be  maintained  in  good  flesh  when  she  is  fed  a  ration  of  corn 
equivalent  to  1  per  cent  of  her  live  weight.  For  a  200-pound  sow 
this  would  be  2  pounds  of  corn  daily.  When  no  pasture  is  pro¬ 
vided  it  requires  from  6  to  7  pounds  of  grain  to  maintain  a  200- 
pound  sow  in  proper  condition. 

Some  farmers  make  use  of  a  leguminous  hay  for  the  sows  when 
the  pastures  become  short.  Alfalfa,  cowpea,  and  soy-bean  hay  are 
52474°— Bull.  411—10 - 2 


10 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


all  good  for  this  purpose.  They  save  a  great  amount  of  grain. 
When  the  farm  is  supplied  with  a  cutter  it  will  pay  to  cut  the  hay 
into  small  parts,  which  should  be  mixed  with  the  corn  and  fed  as  a 
thick  slop.  But  it  will  not  pay  to  go  to  any  extra  expense  to  get 
ready  to  cut  this  hay.  Some  feeders  throw  the  uncut  hay  on  the 
ground,  but  this  causes  considerable  waste,  especially  in  rain}7 
weather.  In  the  South,  where  hay  is  high  in  price,  it  will  pay  to 
provide  a  small  rack  so  that  the  animals  can  pull  the  hay  from  below 
without  getting  it  under  their  feet. 

If  neither  pastures  nor  hay  are  available,  the  feeder  should  use 
corn  along  with  wheat  shorts,  bran,  tankage,  skim  milk,  etc.  Corn 
should  never  be  used  alone.  Corn  and  skim  milk  should  be  fed  in 
the  proportion  of  one  part  of  corn  to  three  parts  of  skim  milk.  Under 
average  conditions  the  dry  sow  should  be  fed  about  one  part  of 


shorts  or  bran  to  three  parts  of  corn,  or  one  part  of  tankage  to  nine 
parts  of  corn.  It  would  pay  some  farmers  to  use  cowpeas  and  soy 
beans  along  with  the  corn  in  the  proportion  of  one  part  of  the  peas 
to  about  six  parts  of  corn. 

FEED  FOR  SOW  AFTER  FARROWING. 

The  mother  should  receive  no  feed  at  all  for  about  twenty-four 
hours  after  giving  birth  to  the  pigs.  She  is  feverish,  though,  and 
should  be  liberally  supplied  with  fresh  water.  The  second  day  after 
farrowing  she  should  be  given  a  small  feed.  It  is  well  to  start  her  on 
a  light  slop  made  up  of  shorts  and  skim  milk.  If  there  is  no  skim 
milk  on  hand,  mix  about  four  parts  of  corn  with  one  part  of  shorts, 
cowpeas,  or  soy-bean  meal  and  give  a  small  quantity.  She  should  be 
411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


11 


gradually  brought  up  to  a  full  feed;  this  should  require  about  three 
weeks.  If  she  is  overfed  at  first  the  pigs  are  apt  to  take  scours  and 
thumps.  When  she  is  on  full  feed  she  will  be  eating  daily  an  amount 
equivalent  to  about  4  per  cent  of  her  live  weight,  provided  she  is 
not  on  pasture.  If  she  has  the  run  of  a  good  leguminous  pasture,  at 
least  one-half  of  the  grain  will  be  saved.  If  she  has  no  pasture,  she 
should  be  fed  just  about  as  she  was  fed  before  farrowing,  except  that 
she  should  receive  more  feed  than  when  she  was  dry.  When  the  pas¬ 
ture  is  composed  mainly  of  blue  grass  or  Bermuda  grass  she  should 
receive  a  grain  feed  equivalent  to  about  3  per  cent  of  her  live  weight, 
and  the  grain  part  of  the  ration  should  be  partly  composed  of  shorts, 
tankage,  cowpeas,  or  soy  beans.  When  the  pasture  is  made  up  of 
a  leguminous  crop,  a  grain  ration  equivalent  to  not  more  than  2 
per  cent  of  her  body  weight  will  keep  her  in  excellent  flesh,  and  in  this 
case  corn  can  be  used  for  the  grain  portion  of  the  feed. 


Fig.  3.— Bonham  portable  hog  house,  showing  plan  of  construction. 

FEED  FOR  PIGS  BEFORE  WEANING. 


Here,  again,  the  most  important  point  of  all,  as  far  as  economy  of 
gains  is  concerned,  is  to  have  a  pasture  for  the  pigs  to  run  upon  as 
soon  as  they  begin  to  eat.  When  a  good  pasture  is  available  and 
the  mother  is  fed  liberally  of  the  proper  feeds,  the  little  pigs  will  need 
little  in  addition  to  what  they  obtain  from  the  pasture  and  the  mother. 
But  the  pigs  will  make  use  of  some  additional  feed,  especially  if  the 
litter  is  a  large  one.  The  pigs  will  begin  to  eat  when  they  are  about 
3  weeks  old  if  they  be  given  the  opportunity.  For  these  young  ani¬ 
mals  nothing  is  superior  to  skim  milk  mixed  with  shorts.  Many 
farmers  have  no  skim  milk,  though,  so  something  else  must  be  used. 
In  such  case  probably  the  best  thing  to  feed  is  a  thin  slop  of  shorts 
up  to  the  time  that  the  pigs  are  from  4  to  6  weeks  old,  after  which 

411 


12 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


the  ration  should  be  made  up  of  equal  parts  of  corn  meal  and  shorts. 
These  young  animals  should  never  be  fed  corn  alone.  The  feed  for 
the  pigs  must  be  fed  in  separate  troughs,  around  which  a  fence  has 
been  built  to  keep  the  sows  away. 

There  is  no  advantage  to  be  gained  by  pushing  the  pigs  too  rapidly 
with  supplementary  feeds.  They  should  not  be  fed  much  fattening 
feeds,  as  corn ;  they  should  rather  be  given  feeds  which  tend  to  make 
bone  and  muscle,  as  skim  milk,  shorts,  pasture,  cowpeas,  soy-bean 
meal,  etc.,  so  that  when  the  time  arrives  to  finish  them  for  the  market 
they  will  have  a  well-developed  body  upon  which  to  put  the  fat. 
They  should,  while  young,  be  given  just  enough  feed  to  keep  them 
in  a  good  healthy  growing  condition. 

Oftentimes  when  the  litter  is  small  and  the  mother  is  a  good  milker 
the  little  pigs  will  need  no  feed  at  all  in  addition  to  the  pasture  and 
the  mother’s  milk.  The  Wisconsin  station  a  has  done  some  experi¬ 
mental  work  which  seems  to  show  that  gains  on  young  pigs  can  be 
made  as  economically  by  feeding  a  given  amount  of  feed  to  the 
mother  as  by  feeding  directly  to  the  pigs.  To  be  able  to  keep  up  an 
average-sized  litter  in  this  way,  the  mother  must  be  fed  liberally. 
The  mother  and  the  pasture  should  be  depended  upon  to  furnish  the 
greater  part  of  the  feed  for  the  small  pig. 

WEANING  THE  PIGS. 

Some  farmers  make  the  mistake  of  weaning  the  pigs  too  young. 
The  age  at  which  they  should  be  weaned  depends  somewhat  upon 
whether  the  mother  is  to  produce  two  litters  a  year.  However,  the 
pigs  should  never  be  taken  away  from  the  mother  under  8  weeks  of 
age;  it  is  usually  advisable  to  let  them  run  with  the  sow  until  they 
are  from  10  to  12  weeks  old.  The  mother’s  feed  at  weaning  time 
should  be  reduced  to  pasture  alone  for  a  few  days,  so  that  the  flow  of 
milk  will  be  checked;  if  full  feed  is  continued  when  the  pigs  are 
weaned,  the  mother’s  udders  and  teats  are  apt  to  be  ruined.  The 
milk  flow  will  dry  up  within  a  few  days,  and  if  the  sow  is  thin  the 
feed  should  be  raised  some,  but  she  will  not  require  as  much  feed  as 
when  she  was  suckling  the  litter  of  pigs. 

The  pigs  should  be  accustomed  to  feeds  before  they  are  taken 
from  the  mother.  If  they  are  weaned  before  they  are  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  some  concentrated  feeds,  they  are  sure  to  be  seri¬ 
ously  checked  in  their  growth.  The  farmer  who  has  some  skim  milk 
will  experience  no  difficulty  at  all  in  carrying  the  pigs  through  this 
period,  as  the  skim  milk,  with  the  proper  grain  ration,  takes  the 
place  of  the  mother’s  milk.  It  is  necessary  for  the  pigs  at  this  time 


411 


a  Wisconsin  Experiment  Station  Reports,  1889  and  1890. 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


13 


to  be  supplied  with  a  good  pasture,  a  leguminous  pasture  preferred. 
Alfalfa  affords  one  of  the  best  pastures  obtainable  for  young  pigs. 
With  a  good  pasture  and  a  half  ration  of  grain  they  will  make  good 
and  profitable  gains  up  to  the  time  they  are  ready  to  finish  for  the 
market. 

CONCENTRATES  TO  SUPPLEMENT  CORN. 

It  has  previously  been  shown  that  the  southern  farmer  can  not 
afford  to  use  corn  alone  as  a  fattening  ration  for  swine.  Fortunately 
for  the  South,  it  is  not  necessary  to  depend  upon  corn  alone,  as  almost 
all  the  crops  which  can  be  grown  in  any  part  of  the  country  can  be 
grown  in  the  South,  and  there  are  many  crops  suitable  for  hog  feed 
which  can  be  grown  in  no  other  section  of  the  country.  This  section 
is  wonderfully  blessed  in  its  great  variety  of  grain  and  concentrates, 
and  in  addition  green  and  pasture  crops  can  be  made  to  spread  over 
12  months  of  the  year.  In  fact,  with  the  use  of  pasture  crops  the 
South  is  in  a  position  to  make  pork  cheaper  than  any  other  section 
of  the  United  States. 

As  stated  before,  the  hog  likes  a  variety  of  feeds  and  thrives  better 
upon  a  ration  made  up  of  two  or  more  feeds  than  upon  one  made  up 
of  but  one.  It  has  been  proved  by  several  of  the  experiment  stations 
that  wheat  and  corn,  when  fed  separately  to  fattening  hogs,  are 
practically  equal  in  feeding  value.  At  the  Wisconsin  Experiment 
Station  several  tests  were  made  to  learn  the  relative  value  of  wheat 
and  a  mixture  of  wheat  and  corn  in  equal  parts.  It  was  found  that 
500  pounds  of  wheat  were  required  to  make  100  pounds  of  gain,  but 
when  wheat  and  corn  were  fed  in  equal  parts  only  485  pounds  of  the 
mixture  were  required  to  make  the  same  gain.  When  fed  sepa¬ 
rately,  these  grains  are  of  equal  feeding  value,  but  the  mixture  of  the 
two  was  more  valuable  than  either  grain  when  fed  alone.  While  the 
South  has  not  the  wheat,  yet  the  Wisconsin  experiments  teach  the 
lesson  that  if  the  most  is  to  be  realized  upon  the  hog  and  the  corn  a 
supplementary  feed  must  go  along  with  the  corn. 

DAIRY  BY-PRODUCTS. 

Among  the  various  concentrated  supplements  which  can  be  used 
with  corn  for  fattening  hogs  are  the  dairy  by-products — skim  milk  and 
whey.  Of  course  at  the  present  time  the  South  has  but  little  dairy 
by-products  to  use  in  finishing  hogs,  but  as  the  dairy  business  assumes 
greater  proportions  much  larger  amounts  of  these  valuable  feeds  will 
be  at  the  disposal  of  the  hog  feeder.  It  is  probable  that  the  skim  milk 
and  whey  could  be  used  to  better  advantage  in  feeding  the  suckling 
mothers  and  the  small  pigs,  as  the  green  pasture  crops  can  take  their 
place  after  the  pigs  are  weaned,  but  still  there  are  cases  where  it 

411 


14 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


should  be  fed  to  the  fattening  animals.  The  value  of  these  feeds 
can  be  seen  from  the  following  experiments: 


Table  2. — Experiments  showing  value  of  skim  milk  in  feeding  hogs. 


Station. 

Ration. 

Pounds 
of  feed  to 
make  100 
pounds 
gain. 

Cost  of 
100 

pounds 
gain. a 

Alabama  b . 

Corn  alone . 

670 

$8. 38 

Corn, 1  part . 

210 

l  4  02 

Skim  milk,  2.2  parts . 

465 

Tennessee  c . 

Corn  alone . 

410 

5. 12 

Corn,  1  part . 

160 

l  ^  JV7 

Skim  milk,  7.4  parts . 

1,190 

Missouri  d . 

/Corn . 

243 

}  4.71 

\Skirn  milk . 

559 

Corn,  3  parts . 

310 

l  6  Q8 

Middlings,  2  parts . 

207 

Tennessee  « . 

Corn  alone . 

467 

5. 84 

Corn,  1  part . 

211 

l  fi  on 

Skim  milk,  5.3  parts . 

1,122 

Tennessee  c . 

Corn  alone . . 

1,263 

15.  79 

Corn,  1  part . 

186 

l  A 

Skim  milk,  4  parts . 

746 

a  Priceof  feeds:  Corn,70centsabushel;  skimmilk,30  c  Bulletin  167. 

cents  a  hundredweight;  middlings,  $30  a  ton.  d  Bulletin  79. 

b  Bulletin  82.  e  Bulletin,  Vol.  XV,  No.  1. 


It  is  seen  that  the  skim  milk  was  very  profitably  used  except  in 
those  cases  where  the  larger  amounts  were  fed.  When  skim  milk  is 
valued  at  30  cents  a  hundredweight,  as  it  is  in  the  table,  it  must 
be  used  in  limited  amounts  in  conjunction  with  the  corn.  So  far 
as  economy  of  gains  is  concerned,  poor  results  were  secured  when 
from  five  to  seven  parts  of  skim  milk  were  fed  to  one  part  of  corn; 
but  when  only  two  or  three  parts  of  milk  were  fed  to  one  part  of 
grain  the  results  were  always  satisfactory.  Even  though  too  large 
amounts  of  milk  were  fed  in  some  of  the  above  tests — that  is,  when 
valued  at  30  cents  a  hundredweight — the  average  result  of  the  Ala¬ 
bama  and  Tennessee  work  shows  it  to  have  a  feeding  value  of  71.7 
cents  a  hundredweight  when  corn  is  worth  70  cents  a  bushel.  In 
the  Missouri  work,  where  both  corn  and  middlings  were  fed  in  the 
check  lot,  the  skim  milk  proved  to  have  a  value  of  70.4  cents  a 
hundredweight. 

As  a  rule,  all  kinds  of  dairy  products,  even  the  skim  milk,  command 
a  very  high  price  when  offered  to  the  public  in  the  southern  markets. 
Many  dairymen  could  not  afford  to  feed  skim  milk  to  the  hogs.  But 
there  are  many  other  dairymen  who  are  situated  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  have  no  outlet  at  all  for  the  skim  milk  made  upon  the  farm 
as  far  as  selling  it  upon  the  market  is  concerned.  Many  farmers 

411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


15 


consider  this  feed  as  almost  a  waste  product  and  treat  it  as  such, 
but  if  it  is  properly  apportioned  with  the  grains  and  given  to  hogs, 
it  can  be  disposed  of,  through  the  hogs,  for  an  excellent  price.  The 
hog,  therefore,  is  a  valuable  adjunct  to  the  dairy  business  as  a  means 
of  utilizing  the  waste  or  by-products. 

COWPEAS  AND  SOY  BEANS. 

In  the  past,  when  the  cowpea  and  the  soy  bean  sold  at  cheap 
prices,  some  farmers  used  them  in  large  amounts  in  hog-feeding  oper¬ 
ations.  But  they  have  advanced  in  price  within  the  last  few  years 
and  at  the  present  time  must  be  used  in  limited  amounts.  When 
they  are  valued  at  $1.50  a  bushel  neither  one  can  be  used  as  freely 
as  was  the  case  in  the  following  tests: 


Table  3. — Experiments  ivith  cowpeas  ( the  seed )  to  supplement  corn  in  feeding  hogs. 


Station. 

Ration. 

Pounds 
of  grain  to 
make  100 
pounds 
gain. 

Cost  of 
100 

pounds 

gain.a 

Alabama  b . 

Corn  alone . 

487 

$6. 09 

Cowpeas  alone . 

481 

12. 02 

Corn,  one-half . 

216 

Cowpeas,  one-half . 

216 

>  o.  1U 

Alabama  c . 

Corn  alone . 

478 

5.  97 

Corn . 

187 

Cowpeas . 

208 

>  7. 54 

a  Price  of  feeds:  Corn,  70  cents  a  bushel;  cowpeas,  $1.50  a  bushel,  b  Bulletin  82.  c  Bulletin  143. 


When  fed  in  the  above  amounts  the  cowpeas  proved  to  be  worth 
but  94  cents  a  bushel  in  the  first  experiment  and  $1.04  a  bushel  in 
the  second  test.  In  the  first  test  216  pounds  of  cowpeas  took  the 
place  of  271  pounds  of  corn,  and  in  the  second  208  pounds  of  cow¬ 
peas  were  equal  to  291  pounds  of  corn.  Money,  of  course,  was  lost 
as  a  result  of  feeding  cowpeas  in  these  large  amounts.  Cowpeas  are 
too  high  in  price  to  make  up  any  considerable  amount  of  the  hog’s 
ration.  The  above  results  do  not,  however,  prove  that  cowpeas  can 
not  be  used  in  a  ration  where  they  make  up  a  smaller  proportion  of 
the  whole.  If  they  are  to  be  used  along  with  corn  they  should  not 
make  up  more  than  about  one-fifth  of  the  whole  ration.  When  so 
used  they  will  cheapen  the  corn  ration.  When  a  feed  is  worth  in 
the  neighborhood  of  $50  a  ton  it  must  be  used  intelligently. 

Some  of  the  experiment  stations  have  tried  to  ascertain  the  value 
of  the  soy  bean  as  a  feed  with  which  to  supplement  corn.  This 
bean  is  richer  than  the  cowpea,  so  it  has  not  been  fed  in  as  large 
amounts  as  has  the  cowpea.  It  has  proved  superior  to  the  cowpea 
for  feeding  hogs,  probably  not  so  much  because  of  its  superiority 

411 


16 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


as  a  feed,  but  because  it  was  fed  so  as  to  make  up  a  smaller  propor¬ 
tion  of  the  whole  ration.  The  cowpea  has  been  used  too  lavishly. 

The  Kansas  and  Indiana  stations  have  tested  soy  beans  as  a  sup¬ 
plemental  feed,  with  the  following  results: 


Table  4. — Experiments  with  soy  beans  ( the  seed )  to  supplement  corn  in  feeding  hogs. 


Station. 

Ration 

Pounds 
of  feed  to 
make  100 
pounds 
gain. 

Cost  of 
100 

pounds 

gain.a 

Kansas  b . 

Corn  alone . 

482 

$6. 03 

Corn,  two-thirds . 

246 

l  fl  IK 

Soy-bean  meal,  one-third . 

123 

>  0.  lo 

Indiana  c . 

Corn  meal,  6.5  parts . 

328 

•v 

Linseed  meal,  1  part . 

57 

>  4. 95 

Corn  meal,  6.1  parts . 

310 

l  SIS 

Soy-bean  meal,  1  part . 

51 

Indiana  d . 

Corn  alone . 

557 

6. 96 

Corn,  two-thirds . 

207 

l  f;  iq 

Soy  beans,  one-third . 

103 

>  0.  lo 

a  Price  of  feeds:  Corn,  70  cents  a  bushel;  soy  beans,  $1.50  a  bushel;  linseed  meal,  $30  a  ton. 
b  Bulletin  95.  c  Bulletin  120.  d  Bulletin  108. 


The  Kansas  test  shows  123  pounds  of  soy-bean  meal  to  be  equal 
to  236  pounds  of  corn  when  fed  in  the  proportion  of  one-third  soy¬ 
bean  meal  to  two-thirds  corn.  Or,  1  bushel  of  soy  beans  proved  to 
be  worth  $1.44  for  hog  feeding.  In  the  first  Indiana  test  soy-bean 
meal  proved  to  be  somewhat  superior  to  linseed  meal.  Or,  when 
corn  sells  for  70  cents  a  bushel  and  hogs  for  5  cents  a  pound,  the  soy 
beans  were  worth  $1.33  a  bushel  as  a  feed.  If  the  hogs  sell  at  6 
cents  a  pound  the  beans  were  then  worth  $2.51  a  bushel.  In  the 
second  Indiana  test  the  soy  beans  realized,  through  hogs,  $2.54  a 
bushel. 

If  the  cowpea  or  the  soy  bean  are  either  one  to  be  used  in  conjunc¬ 
tion  with  corn  they  must  be  used  sparingly — in  the  same  way  that 
packing-house  by-products  are  used — and  when  thus  used  excellent 
prices  can  be  realized  upon  them  with  hogs  selling  at  5  or  6  cents 
a  pound  live  weight.  It  has  been  but  a  few  years  since  cowpeas 
could  be  bought  at  from  50  to  75  cents  a  bushel.  If  the  price  ever 
returns  to  these  figures  the  farmer  can  afford  to  make  larger  use  of 
the  cowpea — that  is,  financially.  In  other  words,  he  could  afford  to 
feed  them  in  equal  proportion  with  corn,  but  would  gain  little  by 
so  doing  except  to  save  corn. 

RICE  FEEDS. 

In  some  sections  of  the  South  rice  products  can  be  used  to  advan¬ 
tage  as  a  hog  feed,  especially  in  parts  of  South  Carolina,  Arkansas, 
Louisiana,  and  Texas.  As  time  goes  by  there  will  be  more  and 

411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


17 


more  of  these  by-products  thrown  upon  the  market,  as  the  area 
devoted  to  rice  culture  is  rapidly  increasing.  In  1899  there  were 
but  342,214  acres  planted  to  rice,  while  in  1905  the  acreage  had 
increased  to  482,479,  and  the  area  suited  to  rice  culture  is  being 
extended  every  year.  In  some  of  the  tests  reported  below  where  rice 
polish  was  compared  directly  with  corn  meal,  the  rice  by-product 
was  found  to  be  superior  to  corn,  pound  for  pound.  Two  southern 
experiment  stations  have  carried  on  work  to  learn  the  value  of  the 
rice  feeds,  with  the  following  results: 

Table  5. — Experiments  showing  value  of  rice  by-products  for  feeding  hogs. 


Station. 


South  Carolina  b. 


Alabama  c. 


Ration. 


/Rice  meal,  1  part.. 
\Skim  milk,  4  parts 

Corn  meal,  1  part.. 
Skim  milk,  4  parts 

Rice  polish . 

Corn  meal . 


Pounds 
of  feed  to 
make  100 
pounds 
gain. 


248 

991 

257 

1,028 

373 

474 


Cost  of 
100 

pounds 

gain. a 


$5.  70 

G.  30 

4. 10 
5.93 


Massachusetts  « 


Corn  hearts,  one-half  d 
Rice  bran,  one-half _ 

Cowpeas,  one-half _ 

Rice  bran,  one-half _ 

Corn  meal,  one-half _ 

Rice  bran,  one-half - 

Rice  meal . 

Skim  milk . 

Corn  meal . 

Skim  milk . 


369 

369 

297 

297 

275 

275 

225 

914 

225 

912 


7.19 

9.51 

5.36 

5.22 

5.55 


a  Price  of  feeds:  Corn,  70  cents  a  bushel;  skim  milk,  30  cents  a  hundredweight;  rice  bran,  $14  a  ton; 
rice  meal,  $22  a  ton;  corn  hearts,  $25  a  ton. 
b  Bulletin  55. 
c  Bulletin  122. 

d  Corn  hearts  was  a  commercial  by-product  consisting  of  the  hearts  mixed  with  the  corn  bran. 
e  Report,  1897. 


In  the  South  Carolina  test  the  rice  meal  proved  to  be  worth  $16.36 
a  ton  with  hogs  selling  for  5  cents  a  pound  and  skim  milk  at  30  cents 
a  hundredweight,  and  $24.42  a  ton  when  the  animals  sold  for  6  cents 
a  pound,  while  the  corn  was  worth  but  $14.94  and  $22.72  a  ton,  respec¬ 
tively,  under  similar  conditions.  In  the  Alabama  work  the  rice 
polish  likewise  proved  to  be  more  valuable  as  a  hog  feed  than  the 
corn  meai. 

Concerning  the  rice  bran  experiment  at  the  Alabama  station,  Dug- 
gar  writes: 

The  unusually  cold  weather  of  the  time,  inadequate  pens,  and  the  rather  unpala¬ 
table  nature  of  all  the  rations,  due  to  the  admixture  of  rice  bran,  made  the  rates  of 
growth  slow  and  unsatisfactory.  Rice  bran  was  not  relished  by  hogs. 

52474°— Bull.  411—10 - 3 


18 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


At  the  Massachusetts  station  the  rice  meal  and  the  corn  meal 
proved  to  be  practically  equal  in  feeding  value,  but  the  rice  meal  was 
the  cheaper  feed. 

MIDDLINGS. 


There  are  mill  products  in  the  South,  and  it  will  pay  the  farmers 
to  use  some  of  them  along  with  the  corn  rather  than  feed  the  corn 
alone.  Bran  is  not  acceptable  as  a  hog  feed,  especially  for  young 
animals.  It  is  too  bulky  to  feed  to  an  animal  which  has  a  small 
stomach.  The  hog  has  but  one  stomach  and  that  one  is  small  when 
compared  to  the  size  of  the  animal.  But,  as  shown  below,  middlings 
or  shorts  can  well  be  used  as  supplementary  feeds  to  corn. 


Table  6. — Experiments  with  m  iddlings  plus  corn  versus  corn  alone  in  feeding  hogs. 


Station. 


Indiana  b 


Wisconsin  c 


Tennessee  d 


Ration. 

Pounds 
of  feed  to 
make  100 
pounds 
gain. 

Cost  of 
100 

pounds 
gain,  a 

Corn  alone . 

557 

$6.  96 

Corn,  one-half . 

172 

1  4. 73 

Middlings,  one-half . 

172 

Corn  alone . 

537 

6.  71 

Corn,  one-half .  . . . 

220 

Middlings,  one-half . 

220 

>  6. 05 

Corn  alone . 

1,260 

15.  75 

Corn,  two-thirds . 

407 

Middlings,  one-third . 

203 

|  8. 13 

Corn,  one-half . 

195 

Middlings,  one-half . 

195 

j-  5. 36 

Corn,  one-third . 

136 

1  -  o, 

Middlings,  two-thirds . 

274 

|  o.  81 

a  Price  of  feeds:  Middlings,  $30  a  ton;  corn,  70  cents  a  bushel.  e  Report,  1885. 

b  Bulletin  108.  d  Bulletin,  vol.  15,  No.  5. 


If  the  average  of  the  three  above  experiments  be  taken  it  is  found 
that  each  100  pounds  of  pork  made  cost  $9.80  when  corn  was  used 
exclusively,  and  when  middlings  were  used  along  with  the  corn  100 
pounds  was  made  for  $6.01,  which  was  a  saving  of  $3.79  a  100  pounds 
made  as  a  result  of  introducing  some  middlings  into  the  ration. 
With  hogs  selling  at  5  cents  a  pound,  and  middlings  at  $30  a  ton,  when 
corn  alone  was  used  only  35.7  cents  were  realized  upon  each  bushel  fed, 
but  when  the  corn  was  fed  in  conjunction  with  middlings  41.2  cents 
were  realized  for  each  bushel.  In  many  places  in  the  South  hogs 
have  been  selling  for  6  cents  a  pound,  in  which  case,  when  corn  was 
fed  alone  42.8  cents  would  be  secured  for  each  bushel,  but  when  fed 
with  the  middlings  the  corn  would  realize,  through  the  logs,  77.3 
cents  a  bushel.  As  a  result  of  using  middlings  the  farmer  can  secure 
more  for  his  corn  than  if  he  had  not  done  so.  Still,  profits  can  not 
•ill 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


19 


be  made  as  a  rule  upon  hogs  when  they  are  fed  nothing  but  corn  and 
middlings;  that  is,  when  corn  is  quoted  at  70  cents  a  bushel  and  mid¬ 
dlings  at  S30  a  ton  and  hogs  sell  at  5  cents  a  pound  live  weight. 
Some  other  feed  or  feeds  must  be  secured  to  go  along  with  corn. 

It  will  be  shown  later  on  that  pasture  crops  can  be  employed  so 
that  the  feeder  can  use  high-priced  concentrates  and  still  realize 
excellent  returns  upon  them.  The  problem  of  high-priced  concen¬ 
trated  feeds  is  ever  present  in  the  South,  yet  the  high  prices  of  these 
feeds  need  not  force  the  southern  farmer  to  discontinue  pork  raising. 
They  need  only  force  the  adoption  of  new  methods  and  systems  whereby 

he  may  be  enabled  to  make  pork  cheaper  than  he  has  ever  made  it 

* 

before. 

TANKAGE  AND  MEAT  MEAL. 


There  are  at  least  two  packing-house  by-products — tankage  and 
meat  meal — which  should  be  more  generally  introduced  in  the  South 
as  feeds  to  go  along  with  corn.  Either  one  of  them  would  cheapen 
the  ration  materially  and  make  corn  worth  more  a  bushel  as  a  hog 
feed.  In  every  case  where  either  one  was  used  in  the  experiments 
shown  in  the  following  table  the  cost  of  gains  was  reduced  below  the 
cost  when  corn  alone  was  used: 


Table  7. — Experiments  with  packing-house  by-products  in  feeding  hogs. 


Station. 

Ration. 

Pounds 
of  feed  to 
make  100 
pounds 
gain. 

Alabama 

Corn  alone . 

575 

Corn,  nine-tenths . 

352 

Tankage,  one-tenth . 

392 

Nebraska  c. . 

Corn  alone . 

583 

Corn,  nine-tenths . 

446 

Tankage,  one-tenth . 

51 

Corn  alone . 

343 

Corn,  nine-tenths . 

290 

Tankage,  one-tenth . 

32 

Oklahoma  d. 

Corn  alone . 

C81 

Corn,  seven-eighths . 

328 

Meat  meal,  one-eighth . 

468 

Corn,  eleven-twelfths . 

401 

Meat  meal,  one-twelfth . 

36 

Teimessee  « . 

Corn  alone . 

1,500 

Corn,  95  parts . 

485 

Meat  meal,  5  parts . 

25 

Corn,  90  parts . 

450 

Meat  meal,  10  parts . . . . 

50 

Corn,  85  parts . 

408 

Meat  meal,  15  parts . 

72 

Cost  of 
too 

pounds 

gain.® 


$7. 19 
5.18 

7.28 
6.59 

4.29 
4. 27 

8. 51 
5.04 

5. 74 
18.  75 
6.  56 

6. 63 

6. 52 


a  Price  of  feeds:  Corn,  70  cents  a  bushel;  tankage,  $40  a  ton;  meat  meal,  $40  a  ton. 
b  Bulletin  143.  c  Bulletin  107.  d  Bulletin  80.  e  Bulletin,  vol.  15,  No.  5. 


411 


20 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


At  the  Alabama  station  when  corn  alone  was  used  only  48.7  cents 
were  realized  for  each  bushel  fed,  but  when  a  one-tenth  part  of  the 
corn  ration  was  made  up  of  tankage  the  sum  was  increased  to  67  cents, 
assuming  that  the  hogs  sold  for  5  cents  a  pound  live  weight.  The 
average  of  the  work  in  Nebraska  shows  that  when  corn  alone  was 
used  60.5  cents  were  secured  for  each  bushel;  when  tankage  was  fed 
along  with  corn  the  returns  were  63.5  cents  a  bushel.  In  Oklahoma, 
when  corn  was  fed  alone  but  41.1  cents  were  secured  for  a  bushel, 
but  when  meat  meal  supplemented  the  corn  the  amount  averaged  64 
cents  a  bushel.  In  Tennessee  only  18.7  cents  were  realized  upon 
each  bushel  of  corn  when  it  was  used  alone,  but  when  the  meat  meal 
was  used  along  with  it,  its  value  was  raised  to  50.3  cents  (average 
of  three  lots). 

COTTON-SEED  MEAL. 

The  deaths  that  sometimes  occur  as  a  result  of  feeding  cotton-seed 
meal  to  hogs  deter  the  majority  of  farmers  from  using  it.  It  is  a 
feed  that,  if  used  at  all,  must  be  used  in  moderation  and  with  judg¬ 
ment.  The  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry  and  most  of  the  southern 
experiment  stations  have  fed  it  both  fermented  and  sweet — and 
killed  pigs  in  both  cases.  There  is  a  risk  when  it  is  used  for  long 
periods  of  time,  and  the  man  who  feeds  it  should  bear  in  mind  this 
risk.  It  is  not  a  feed  for  the  farmer  to  experiment  with.  He  should 
keep  well  within  bounds  when  feeding  cotton-seed  meal  to  his  animals. 
It  is  not  safe  to  feed  it  to  hogs,  even  when  making  up  only  one-third 
of  the  whole  ration,  for  more  than  twenty-one  days.  If  it  is  to  be 
used  longer  than  twenty-one  days,  the  proportion  of  the  meal  should 
be  cut  down  to  one-fifth  or  one-sixth  of  the  entire  ration,  and  even 
then  there  is  great  danger.  This  danger  may  be  averted  somewhat 
by  allowing  the  hogs  plenty  of  succulent  pasture. 

Aside  from  the  deaths  that  may  occur,  cotton-seed  meal  is  an  ex¬ 
cellent  feed.  In  fact,  it  is  probably  the  best  feed  in  the  South  to  go 
along  with  corn.  It  has  been  charged  that  it  is  impossible  to  keep 
the  hogs  eating  well  when  part  of  the  ration  consists  of  cotton-seed 
meal,  but  the  writer  has  experienced  no  trouble  in  keeping  all  the 
animals  keen  for  the  next  meal  when  the  mixture  of  corn  and  meal 
has  been  fed  as  a  thin  slop,  so  that  it  could  be  drunk  rather  than 
picked  up  and  eaten.  If  it  is  fed  in  a  doughy  condition,  the  pigs 
will  soon  go  “off  feed.” 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  following  table  that  when  cotton-seed  meal 
is  fed  along  with  corn  the  cost  of  the  gains  is  greatly  reduced — pro¬ 
vided  no  deaths  occur: 


411 


FEEDING  HOGS  TN  THE  SOUTH. 


21 


Table  8. — Experiments  in  feeding  cotton-seed  meal  and  corn  to  hogs. 


Station. 

• 

Ration. 

Pounds 
of  feed  to 
make  100 
pounds 
gain. 

Cost  of  100 
pounds 
gain.® 

Alabama  b . 

Corn  alone . 

590 

$7  38 

Corn,  two-thirds . 

303 

1 

Cotton-seed  meal,  one-third . 

157 

j-  5.  / 5 

Tex  as  c . 

Corn  alone  (fermented) . 

868 

10.85 

Corn,  two-thirds . 

485 

Cotton-seed  meal  (fermented),  one-third . 

242 

j-  9. 08 

North  Carolina  d . 

Corn  (fermented) . 

1,284 

16  05 

Corn,  four-fifths . 

534 

Cotton-seed  meal  (fermented),  one-fifth . 

133 

j-  8. 34 

Corn,  seven-eighths . 

446 

Cotton-seed  meal  (fermented),  one-eighth . 

64 

>  0.0/ 

a  Price  of  feeds:  Corn,  70  cents  a  bushel;  cotton-seed  meal,  $25  a  ton. 
b  Bulletin  143.  c  Bulletin  78.  d  Bulletin  200. 


While  the  expense  of  making  pork  is  greatly  reduced  when  corn  is 
supplemented  with  cotton-seed  meal,  still,  with  corn  at  70  cents  a 
bushel  and  cotton-seed  meal  at  $25  a  ton,  it  is  seldom  that  the  feeder 
can  come  out  even  when  employing  them  without  further  supple¬ 
ments.  In  the  Alabama  test  each  bushel  of  corn  when  used  alone 
realized  47.5  cents,  with  hogs  selling  at  5  cents,  but  when  the  corn 
was  used  along  with  cotton-seed  meal  the  value  of  each  bushel  was 
raised  to  56.2  cents.  The  North  Carolina  work  illustrates  what  poor 
use  hogs  will  sometimes  make  of  corn  when  they  receive  nothing  but 
corn.  Assuming  the  same  live  price  for  hogs,  only  21.8  cents  were 
realized  for  each  bushel  of  corn.  However,  while  the  regular  market 
price  was  not  secured  for  the  corn,  even  when  cotton-seed  meal  was 
fed  along  with  it,  still  as  a  result  of  the  addition  of  small  amounts  of 
the  meal  the  value  of  the  corn  was  doubled  in  one  case  and  multi¬ 
plied  by  in  the  other  case. 

As  will  be  seen  later,  cotton-seed  meal  has  at  least  one  valuable 
and  safe  place  in  our  pork-making  operations — a  place  where  it  can 
be  fed  in  large  amounts.  It  can,  and  should,  be  used  along  with 
corn  in  a  short  dry-lot  finishing  period  after  the  pasture  and  grazing 
crops  are  exhausted.  Corn  is  excellent  for  finishing  up  an  animal 
when  he  is  taken  off  of  green  crops,  but  corn  with  cotton-seed  meal 
is  still  better,  because,  first,  the  gains  are  made  more  economically 
when  the  two  feeds  are  used  together;  and,  second,  the  meat  and  the 
lard  of  the  animal  are  hardened  more  rapidly  than  when  corn  is 
used  alone. 

PASTURE  CROPS  TO  SUPPLEMENT  CORN. 

The  facts  so  far  presented  show  one  thing  clearly — when  corn  is  used 
alone  as  a  hog  feed  money  is  almost  sure  to  be  lost.  It  has  also  been 
shown  that  the  feeding  value  of  corn  is  increased  as  a  result  of  the 


411 


22 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


use  of  almost  any  supplement.  But  even  when  corn  is  assisted  by 
the  supplementary  feeds  mentioned,  there  are  but  few  cases  where 
70  cents  is  realized  for  a  bushel  of  corn;  that  is,  when  hogs  sell  for  5 
cents  a  pound  live  weight.  Under  present  conditions  the  southern 
farmer  must  see  his  way  clear  to  realize  at  least  70  cents  a  bushel 
upon  his  corn  when  fed  to.  hogs  before  he  can  look  upon  the  hog 
business  as  a  profitable  one.  In  short,  concentrated  feeds  of  all 
kinds  are  upon  such  a  high  level  of  prices  that  the  farmer  can  not 
afford  to  limit  the  feed  of  the  hog  to  them  alone.  Help  must  be 
sought  outside  the  concentrated  feeds. 

The  supplementary  feeds  heretofore  mentioned  are  almost  all  good 
and  should  be  used  in  hog-feeding  operations,  but  the  future  of  profit¬ 
able  hog  production  in  the  South  depends  upon  the  use  of  green  or 
pasture  crops.  It  is  possible  for  the  southern  farmer  to  have  grazing 
crops  practically  the  year  through,  and  many  of  the  best  farmers 
have  them.  The  southern  farmer  has,  in  fact,  a  decided  advantage 
over  the  northern  farmer  in  this  respect.  We  have  seen  that  a  variety 
of  feeds  almost  always  produced  more  satisfactory  results  than  one 
feed.  Pastures  and  green  crops  can  be  used  to  furnish  variety  better 
than  any  other  feeds.  The  southern  farmer  has  grown  so  accus¬ 
tomed  to  placing  his  hogs  in  a  small  pen  when  the  fattening  period 
arrives  that  he  has  almost  forgotten  that  the  hog  can  make  valuable 
use  of  many  green  crops  if  he  be  given  the  opportunity. 

PERMANENT  PASTURES. 

Until  the  farmer  sees  his  way  clear  to  make  a  permanent  pasture, 
or  has  one  already  made,  he  should  keep  out  of  the  live-stock  busi¬ 
ness.  It  is,  in  fact,  almost  impossible  to  realize  a  profit  upon  any 
kind  of  stock  without  good  pastures.  Therefore,  the  first  thing  to 
be  done  when  one  contemplates  engaging  in  stock  raising  is  to  estab¬ 
lish  a  pasture. 

The  South,  which  is  the  very  section  where  they  can  be  made 
easily,  is  sadly  deficient  in  pastures.  No  attention  has  been  given 
to  them;  it  has  all  been  given  to  cotton.  But  the  southern  farmer, 
if  he  will  devote  some  time  and  effort  to  the  subject,  can  have  as 
good  a  pasture  as  was  ever  seen  in  Kentucky  or  Missouri  and  have 
that  pasture  available  for  grazing  more  months  in  the  year  than  is 
possible  in  those  States.  For  a  permanent  pasture  there  is  no  com¬ 
bination,  either  in  the  North  or  in  the  South,  that  will  equal  bur 
clover  and  Bermuda  grass.  The  Bermuda  can  be  grazed  throughout 
the  summer  months  and  the  bur  clover  from  January  until  the 
Bermuda  comes  on  again.  The  combination  will  afford  grazing  at 
least  ten  months  of  the  year.  Both  plants  are  permanent  after  they 
are  once  established.  To  supplement  the  permanent  pasture,  tem¬ 
porary  pastures  should  be  grown,  as  cowpeas,  peanuts,  etc.,  but  no 
farmer  who  has  stock  can  afford  to  be  without  this  permanent  pas- 
411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


23 


ture  combination  to  be  ready  for  use  when  the  temporary  pastures 
can  not  be  employed. 

RAPE  PASTURE. 


One  of  the  valuable  green  crops  for  hogs  is  rape.  It  can  be  sown 
in  the  fall  after  the  summer  crops  are  taken  off  the  land,  and  within 
seventy  days  is  ready  for  the  hogs  to  be  turned  upon  it.  It  is  a 
winter  growing  crop,  or  one  that  can  be  used  between  the  two  sum¬ 
mer  crops.  As  a  result  of  its  use  the  land  can  be  kept  in  use  and 
covered  with  green  vegetation  the  year  round.  Several  experiment 
stations  have  demonstrated  its  value  as  a  hog  feed. 

Table  9. — Experiments  showing  value  of  rape  as  a  pasture  to  supplement  corn  in  feeding 

hogs. 


Station. 


Ration. 


Alabama  & 


fC-orn . 

\Rape  pasture  (first  grazing) . . . 

Corn . 

Rape  pasture  (second  grazing) 


W isconsin  c. ... 


Corn  alone 


Corn . 

Rape  pasture 


Feed  to  make 
100  pounds 
gain. 

Cost  of 
grain  for 
100 

pounds 

gain. 

Value  of 

1  acre  of 
rape  in 
terms  of 
corn. a 

294  pounds. . . . 
0.18  acre . 

}  $3. 67 

Bushels. 

26.8 

205  pounds.... 
0.205  acre . 

}  2. 56 

31.3 

403  pounds .... 

282  pounds.... 
0.048  acre . 

5.  03 

|  3.52 

45.0 

a  Assuming  that  564  pounds  of  corn  are  required  to  make  100  pounds  gain. 
b  Bulletin  143.  c  Report,  1900. 


While  rape  when  planted  in  the  spring  will  make  a  summer  growth 
almost  anywhere  in  the  South,  it  is  not  advisable  for  the  farmer  to 
use  it  as  a  summer  pasture.  Other  pastures  can  be  used  during  the 
summer  months,  and  the  rape  can  be  sown  in  the  fall,  after  the  sum¬ 
mer  crops  are  taken  off  the  land,  and  be  ready  for  pasturing  by  Janu¬ 
ary.  As  a  rule,  lands  lie  idle  throughout  the  winter  months,  thus 
exposing  them  to  the  heavy  washes,  but  if  rape  is  used  the  land  can 
be  made  to  produce  a  green  crop  the  year  round,  and  at  the  same  time 
afford  the  fattening  or  breeding  hogs  a  good  winter  pasture. 

The  experimental  work  in  both  Alabama  and  Wisconsin  has  shown 
rape  to  be  an  excellent  grazing  crop  to  supplement  corn.  In  Alabama 
the  area  was  grazed  twice,  as  the  rape  grew  up  behind  the  hogs  after 
they  had  grazed  it  the  first  time,  and  as  a  result  of  both  grazings  it 
was  learned  that  1  acre  of  the  rape  pasture  was  equivalent  to  61.9 
bushels  of  corn  (assuming  that  580  pounds  of  corn  will  make  100 
pounds  gain) ;  or,  leaving  out  of  consideration  the  expense  of  mak¬ 
ing  the  crop,  each  bushel  fed  at  the  first  grazing  was  worth  95.8 
cents  (hogs  at  5  cents)  and  each  bushel  during  the  second  grazing 
realized  $1.36.  If  it  cost  $8  to  make  an  acre  of  rape,  and  this  expense 
is  charged  against  the  gain,  the  corn  during  the  first  grazing  sold  for 
67.8  cents  a  bushel  while  that  of  the  second  grazing  sold  for  91.6 
cents.  In  the  Wisconsin  test  1  acre  of  rape  was  found  to  be  equal  in 

411 


24 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


feeding  value  to  45  bushels  of  corn,  or,  estimating,  as  in  the  Alabama 
test,  the  corn  sold  for  99.6  cents  a  bushel  when  the  cost  of  making 
the  rape  crop  was  not  considered,  and  for  91.9  cents  a  bushel  when 
the  cost  is  counted  against  the  gain  at  the  rate  of  $8  an  acre.  These 
results  were  secured  in  winter,  a  time  of  year  when  the  average  farmer 
is  realizing  no  returns  at  aLl  upon  his  land.  Thus  the  farmer  is  one 
crop  ahead,  equal  to  about  30  bushels  of  corn. 

Rape  is  not  a  legume;  it  will  not  enrich  the  soil.  Its  chief  value 
lies  in  the  fact  that  it  can  be  grown  in  the  winter  time  between  the 
main  farm  crops.  It  comes  off  in  the  spring  in  ample  -time  for  the 
same  area  to  be  planted  in  any  of  the  general  farm  crops. 

CHTJFAS. 

The  chufa  plant  is  one  that  can  be  used  for  winter  grazing  also, 
but  it  has  two  disadvantages.  One  of  these  is  that  it  must  be  planted 
in  the  spring  and  occupies  the  land  throughout  the  whole  summer; 
the  other  is  that  while  it  occupies  the  ground  for  a  long  time  it  is  not 
a  soil  improver.  Nevertheless  many  farmers  make  excellent  use  of 
it  for  pigs  that  they  wish  to  finish  for  late  spring  killing  or  for  the 
early  spring  or  late  winter  markets.  Some  farmers  make  a  practice 
of  planting  it  upon  the  same  land  and  at  the  same  time  with  peanuts, 
but  in  alternate  rows.  This  is  a  good  practice.  The  peanuts  are 
ready  to  graze  before  the  chufas  are  matured,  so  the  animals  when 
turned  into  the  field  first  consume  the  peanuts  and  later  on  in  the  fall 
or  winter  make  use  of  the  chufas.  The  chufa  lies  in  the  ground 
without  much  loss  by  rotting.  Some  of  the  southern  stations  have 
done  experimental  work  in  feeding  this  plant  to  hogs. 

Table  10. — Experiments  with  chufa  pasture  for  fattening  hogs. 


Station. 

Arkansas  b . 

Arkansas  b. 
Arkansas  b . 
Alabama  e . 
Alabama  d. 
Alabama  d. 


Ration. 

Feed  to  make 
100  pounds 
gain. 

Cost  of 
grain  to 
make  100 
pounds 

gain. a 

Value  of  1  acre 
in  terms  of 
corn. 

Corn  alone . 

379  pounds . 1 

$4.73 

Chufa  pasture  alone . 

0. 168  acre . 

40. 3  bushels. e 

/Corn,  \  ration,  plus . 

152  pounds  corn. 

1.90 

\Chufai  and  peanuts  in  alternate  rows . 

0. 151  acre . 

50. 6  bushels. « 

/Corn,  |  ration,  plus . 

163  pounds  corn. 

2.04 

\Chufas  and  peanuts  in  alternate  rows . 

0. 147  acre . 

50.6  bushels. e 

/Corn,  \  ration . 

305  pounds  corn. 

3.81 

\Chufa  pasture . 

0. 41  acre . 

11.9  bushels. e 

/Corn,  1  ration . 

216  pounds  corn. 

\Chufa  pasture . 

0. 149  acre . 

2.71 

43. 6  bushels. « 

/Corn, § . 

203  pounds  corn. 

\Cowpe"as,  \ . 

101  pounds  peas. 

5.06 

/Corn,  S _ .. _ 

/ 101  pounds  corn. 

1 8  bushels  corn. 

1  Cowpeas,^./ 2  ratl0n . 

\51  pounds  peas  . . 

>3.6  bushels 

(Chufa  pasture . 

0. 23  acre .... 

2. 53 

J  peas. 

a  Price  of  feeds:  Corn,  70  cents  a  bushel;  cowpeas,  $1.50  a  bushel. 

b  Bulletin  54.  <■  Bulletin  143.  d  Bulletin  122. 

«  Assuming  that  580  pounds  of  corn  are  required  to  make  100  pounds  gain.  (See  Table  1.) 


411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


25 


If  there  is  a  good  crop  of  chufas  it  .can  be  expected  that  good 
results  will  be  secured,  as  -the  above  table  shows.  The  results  of  the 
Arkansas  work  were  exceedingly  satisfactory,  the  best  results  being 
secured  when  the  chufas  were  planted  with  peanuts.  In  two  of  the 
Alabama  experiments  unsatisfactory  results  were  secured,  due 
largely  to  a  poor  stand  and  crop  of  nuts.  In  the  first  Alabama  test 
the  corn  realized  91.9  cents  a  bushel  where  the  crop  was  not  charged 
against  the  gains,  but  where  the  crop  at  $8  an  acre  was  taken  into 
account  only  31.6  cents  were  realized  for  each  bushel.  But  in  the 
second  Alabama  test  the  corn  sold,  through  the  hogs,  for  good  prices 
in  both  cases.  It  sold  for  $1.29  a  bushel  when  the  crop  was  not 
considered  and  98.7  cents  a  bushel  when  the  expense  of  the  crop  was 
taken  into  account. 


PLANTS  FOR  WINTER  PASTURE. 

Many  plants,  in  addition  to  the  ones  previously  mentioned,  can 
be  used  for  winter  pasture.  Of  course  it  is  more  difficult  to  secure 
winter  than  summer  grazing,  but  with  the  proper  use  of  bur  clover, 
rye,  oats,  vetch,  and  crimson  clover — all  fall  sown — there  is  little 
trouble  to  secure  grazing  areas  throughout  the  whole  winter.  Bur 
clover  is  a  permanent  pasture  and  will  grow  upon  almost  any  char¬ 
acter  of  soil.  It  occupies  the  land  with  Bermuda,  but  makes  its 
growth  in  the  winter  time  and  dies  down  when  spring  appears,  and 
the  Bermuda  takes  its  place.  Bye,  oats,  vetch,  and  crimson  clover 
can  be  fall  sown,  following  the  general  summer  crops,  and  be  ready 
for  use  during  the  winter  and  early  spring  months.  The  following 
details  regarding  winter  crops  may  be  of  assistance  : 

Table  11. — Crops  for  winter  grazing. a 


Crop. 


Oats . 

Rape . 

Rye . 

Vetch  (with  or  without  oats  or  rye)... 

Bur  clover . . . 

Crimson  clover . 

Chufas . 


Time  to  plant. 

Amount  of  seed  to  the  acre. 

Sept.  1-Nov.  1 . 

li-3  bushels . 

Sept.  20-Oct.  15 . 

Sept.  1-Nov.  1 . 

4^0  pounds,  drilled . 

\\-2  bushels . 

Sept.  1-Oct.  15. . . . 

1  bushel . 

Aug.  1-Oct.  1 . 

Sept.  1-Oct.  1 . 

Mar.  15-June  1 . . 

/ 15—20  pounds,  cleaned . 

\36  pounds  in  bur . 

15-20  pounds,  broadcast . 

3-4  pecks . 

Number  of 
days  from 
planting  to 
grazing 
time. 


90-128 
00-  75 
90-120 
90-120 

90-120 

90-120 

120-240 


a  Alabama  Bulletin  143. 


PLANTS  FOR  SUMMER  PASTURE. 

The  pigs  which  are  born  in  late  winter  and  early  spring  should  be 
finished  for  the  market,  or  for  home  killing,  the  following  fall  or  early 
winter.  It  will  seldom  pay  to  keep  them  through  the  first  winter. 

411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


26 

When  the  pig  is  sucking  the  mother  both  should  be  given  the  run  of 
a  pasture  crop  in  order  that  grain  may  be  saved.  If  the  pig  is  born 
in  late  winter,  any  of  the  crops  heretofore  mentioned  can  be  used 
until  the  summer  crops  begin  to  come  on.  When  green  crops  and 
pastures  are  thus  used  the  pig  can  be  gotten  up  to  weaning  time 
as  cheaply,  perhaps  more  cheaply,  than  he  can  be  carried  from  wean¬ 
ing  time  to  a  finish.  Bur  clover,  which  is  a  part  of  the  permanent 
pasture  system,  should,  of  course,  be  used  during  the  late  winter  and 
early  spring  months.  When  the  pigs  are  from  60  to  75  pounds  in 
weight  they  are  ready  to  begin  to  finish,  and  this  is  the  time  that 
the  summer  pasture  crops  should  be  ready  to  use.  This  date  will  be 
about  August. 

COWPEAS  AS  A  GRAZING  CROP. 

Through  the  use  of  quick-maturing  varieties  of  cowpeas  this  plant 
can  be  made  to  be  one  of  the  very  early  summer  grazing  pastures. 
If  two  or  more  varieties  be  used,  or  if  the  same  variety  be  planted  at 
different  dates,  the  grazing  period  can  be  extended  over  several 
months.  It  is,  perhaps,  best  to  use  other  plants,  which  will  be  men¬ 
tioned  later,  to  extend  the  grazing  period.  Several  of  the  southern 
stations  have  used  the  cowpea  pasture  for  hogs.  The  value  of  this 
pasturage  is  shown  by  the  following  results  at  the  Alabama  station : 


Table  12. — Cowpea  pasture,  for  fattening  hogs. 


Station. 

Ration. 

Feed  to  make 
100  pounds 
gain. 

Cost  of  100 
pounds 
gain. 

Value  of 

1  acre 
in  terms 
of  corn. 

A  lahama  a 

Corn  alone . 

58G  pounds. . . . 
307  pounds. . . . 
0. 137  acre. . . 

$7.  33 
3.84 

Bushels. 

Corn,  one-half  ration . 

Cowpea  pasture . 

3G.4 

a  Bulletin  93. 


The  “  Unknown  ”  variety  of  cowpeas  was  used  in  the  foregoing 
work.  The  stand  of  cowpeas  was  thin  and  the  rows  were  about  4 
feet  apart.  When  the  pigs  were  placed  in  the  field  the  leaves  were 
all  green  and  only  one-half  of  the  peas  had  taken  on  the  color  of 
maturity.  The  other  pods  were  all  green,  but  most  of  them  had 
attained  full  size.  Even  with  the  thin  stand  and  the  rows  far  apart 
good  results  were  secured.  When  the  corn  was  fed  alone  only  47. S 
cents  were  realized  for  each  bushel,  but  when  cowpea  pasture  was 
used  in  addition  to  the  corn  each  bushel  was  worth  71.3  cents  (charg¬ 
ing  the  crop  at  $8  an  acre,  fertilizer  not  considered).  When  the  cost 
of  the  crop  was  not  taken  into  account  each  bushel  of  corn  proved  to 
be  worth  91.3  cents. 


411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


27 


At  the  Mississippi  station a  cowpea  pasture  was  grazed  without 
grain.  In  1903,  although  the  crop  was  grown  on  thin  land,  1  acre  of 
cowpeas  produced  350  pounds  of  pork.  In  1904  the  crop  was  grown 
on  good  valley  land  and  produced  483  pounds  of  pork  to  the  acre. 
The  hogs  were  turned  on  the  crop  when  the  peas  were  ripe.  Better 
results  would  no  doubt  have  been  secured  if  the  animals  had  been 
given  the  run  of  the  field  about  two  weeks  before  the  maturity  of  the 
peas. 

In  1906  the  Mississippi  substation5  turned  8  sows  with  their  30 
pigs  into  a  red-clover  pasture  of  3J  acres  on  March  20,  the  red  clover 
having  been  sown  the  previous  fall.  This  furnished  ample  grazing 
until  August  20,  when  they  were  turned  into  a  4J-acre  lot  of  corn 
and  peas.  The  30  pigs  were  killed  out  of  this  pasture  November  1 
without  the  addition  of  any  other  feed  and  dressed  117  pounds  each, 
at  an  average  age  of  196  days.  The  pigs' ate  approximately  6  bushels 
of  corn  each.  When  land  rent  is  estimated  at  $5  an  acre,  corn  at  70 
cents  a  bushel,  and  the  cost  of  seeding  the  red  clover  is  also  taken 
into  account,  each  pig  cost  $4.98. 

It  is  getting  to  be  a  common  practice  in  the  Middle  States,  where 
cowpeas  thrive  well,  to  plant  the  peas  in  the  corn  at  the  last  cultiva¬ 
tion  and  graze  the  hogs  on  both  crops.  This  method  saves  a  great 
amount  of  labor,  and  the  waste  of  corn  is  very  small  indeed  if  small 
pigs  are  given  the  run  of  the  field  after  the  fattening  animals  are 
taken  off;  in  fact,  the  loss  of  corn  is  not  as  great  as  is  usually  the  case 
when  hired  help  gathers  it. 

SOY-BEAN  PASTURE. 

The  soy  bean  is  a  very  valuable  crop  both  for  hay  and  for  use  as  a 
pasture  for  hogs.  The  Tennessee  station,  Bulletin  82,  has  compared 
the  cowpea  and  the  soy  bean  as  to  their  habits  of  growth,  yields,  etc. 
According  to  this  bulletin  the  cowpea  has  the  following  advantages 
over  the  soy  bean:  (1)  The  soy  bean  may  fail  to  come  up  through  a 
crust  which  would  offer  little  resistance  to  cowpeas.  (2)  The  germi¬ 
nation  of  the  cowpea  seed  is  surer  than  that  of  the  soy-bean  seed,  which 
is  liable  to  be  spoiled  by  heating.  The  cowpea  is  therefore  better  than 
the  soy  bean  for  broadcasting,  especially  on  land  that  is  heavy  and 
liable  to  “bake.”  (3)  The  cowpea  is  much  better  suited  than  the 
soy  bean  for  planting  with  either  corn  or  sorghum.  (4)  Cowpea  hay 
is  more  easily  cured  by  the  methods  in  common  use,  without  the 
increased  loss  of  either  leaves  or  fruit,  than  soy-bean  hay. 

The  soy  bean,  on  the  other  hand,  appears  more 'valuable  than  the 
cowpea  (1)  as  a  grain  producer,  (2)  as  an  intensive  farm  crop,  (3)  as 


411 


a  Report  for  1905. 


b  Bulletin  106. 


28 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


an  early  hay  or  grazing  crop  (for  which  purposes  the  early  and  medium 
varieties  will  produce  either  hay  or  seed  several  weeks  ahead  of  any 
variety  of  cowpeas  which  had  been  tested  at  the  station),  (4)  the  seed 
decay  more  slowly  than  those  of  the  cowpea  when  left  on  the  ground, 
so  are  better  adapted  to  being  pastured  off  by  hogs. 

Rabbits  feast  upon  the  soy  bean  while  they  will  not  bother  the 
cowpea  at  all.  Therefore  the  farmer  who  plants  soy  beans  should 
plant  enough  for  both  himself  and  the  rabbits.  The  following  tests 
show  the  value  of  feeding  with  corn  alone  as  compared  with  a  com¬ 
bined  ration  of  corn  and  soy-bean  pasture. 

Table  13. — Experiments  showing  value  of  soy-bean  pasture  for  fattening  hogs. 


Station  and  year. 


Ration. 


Alabama  (1907)o. . .  Corn  alone . 

Corn,  l  ration. . . . 
Soy-bean  pasture. 

Corn,  \  ration. . . . 
Sorghum  pasture 

Alabama  (1908)*> . . .  Corn  alone . 

Corn,  1  ration. . . . 
Soy-bean  pasture 

Corn,  \  ration. .. . 
Soy-bean  pasture 

Corn,  1  ration. ... 
Soy-bean  pasture 


Feed  to  make 
100  pounds 
gain. 

Grain 
cost  of 
100 

pounds 

gain. 

Value  of 

1  acre  in 
terms 
of  corn. 

456  pounds.... 

$5.70 

Bushels. 

157  pounds. . . . 

1.96 

0.28  acre . 

19.3 

437  pounds. . . . 

5.46 

0.57  acre . 

0.6 

572  pounds. . . . 

7.15 

130  pounds.... 

1.62 

0.164  acre . 

48.2 

Ill  pounds.... 

1.39 

0.206  acre . 

39.9 

54  pounds . 

.67 

0.219  acre . 

42.3 

a  Bulletin  143. 


b  Not  published. 


In  the  first  test  reported  above  neither  the  sorghum  nor  the  soy¬ 
bean  crops  were  good.  They  were  both  cut  short  on  account  of 
extreme  drought  at  the  time  of  maturing.  In  the  first  test  the  soy¬ 
bean  field  vTas  compared  with  a  sorghum  field.  The  hogs  were  turned 
upon  the  fields  at  the  same  time,  the  beans  lacking  about  two  or  three 
weeks  of  being  ready  to  “pop  out,”  while  the  juice  of  the  sorghum 
had  sweetened.  The  soy  beans  proved  to  be  greatly  superior  to  the 
sorghum.  In  fact,  the  sorghum  was  practically  worthless,  while  satis¬ 
factory  results  were  secured  from  the  soy  beans.  When  corn  alone 
was  used  61.4  cents  wrere  realized  upon  each  bushel,  with  hogs  at  5 
cents;  but  when  the  corn  was  supplemented  by  the  soy-bean  pasture 
each  bushel  of  corn  used  wras  worth  98.6  cents  (allowing  $8  to  make 
each  acre  of  soy  beans). 

The  soy-bean  crop  of  1908  wras  a  good  one,  and  of  course  better 
results  wrere  secured  than  in  1907.  It  cost  $8.50  an  acre  for  the  station 


411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


29 


to  put  in,  fertilize,  and  cultivate  the  soy-bean  crop.  Rent  on  lands 
in  eastern  Alabama  is  about  $2  an  acre.  When  the  cost  of  making 
the  crop,  rent  at  $2  an  acre,  and  corn  at  70  cents  a  bushel  are  all 
charged  against  the  pigs,  100  pounds  of  gain  were  made  as  follows: 

Table  14. — Cost  of  fattening  hogs  on  soy-bean  pasture,  including  all  charges  ( Alabama 

experiments  of  1908). 


Ration. 


Cost  of 
100 

pounds 

gain. 


C„rn,  £  ration . . . 
Soy-bean  pasture 

Corn,  \  ration . . . 
Soy-bean  pasture 

Corn,  £  ration. . . 
Soy-bean  pasture 


} 

} 

} 


$3.31 


3.48 


2.96 


Even  when  the  interest  on  the  land  and  the  cost  of  putting  in  the 
crop  were  counted  against  the  gains,  pork  was  still  made  for  less  than 
one-half  of  what  it  cost  when  corn  was  used  alone.  Again,  when  corn 
alone  was  used  only  48.9  cents  were  secured  for  each  bushel,  but  when 
a  three-fourths,  a  one-half,  and  a  one-fourth  ration  of  corn  were  used 
along  with  the  pasture  the  value  of  a  bushel  of  corn  was  raised  to 
$1.59,  $1.69,  and  $3.35,  respectively  (estimating  the  cost  of  making 
the  crop  at  $8  an  acre). 

The  Southern  Yellow  variety  of  bean  was  used  in  all  cases.  Other 
varieties  can  be  used  if  it  is  desired  that  the  grazing  period  should  be 
extended.  For  instance,  the  Hollybrook  variety  is  ready  for  grazing 
two  to  three  weeks  before  the  Southern  Yellow,  although  planted 
at  the  same  time. 

PEANUTS. 

Other  things  being  ecpial,  legumes  should  always  be  made  use  of 
when  planning  a  succession  of  crops  for  hogs,  on  account  of  their 
favorable  influence  in  building  up  soils.  Peanuts  rank  among  the 
exceedingly  valuable  leguminous  hog  crops.  Many  farmers  are 
already  aware  of  their  high  feeding  value,  and  they  are  used  in  those 
few  sections  of  the  South  that  at  the  present  time  are  producing  more 
pork  than  is  used  at  home.  As  a  rule,  when  a  hog-producing  section 
is  found  in  the  South,  a  peanut-growing  section  is  also  found.  This 
plant,  used  along  with  soy  beans,  affords  a  long  summer  and  fall 
grazing  season.  It  is  a  very  valuable  crop  for  fattening  hogs,  as  will 
be  seen  from  the  table  following: 


411 


30 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


Table  15. — Experiments  showing  value  of  peanut  past  ure  for  fattening  hogs. 


Station. 


Arkansas  a. 


Alabama  c 


Alabama  d . 


Alabama 


Ration. 

Feed  to  make 
100  pounds 
gain. 

Cost  of 
grain 
for  100 
pounds 
gain. 

Corn  alone . 

379  pounds. . . . 

0.079  acre . 

84.  73 

Peanut  pasture  alone . 

Corn,  \  ration . 

147  pounds. . . . 
0.146  acre  . 

1.84 

Peanut  pasture . 

Corn  J  ration . 

154  pounds. . . . 
0.139  acre . 

1.92 

Peanut  pasture . 

Corn  alone . 

611  pounds. . . . 

148  pounds. . . . 
0.45  acre . 

7.73 

1.85 

Corn,  %  ration . 

Peanut  pasture . 

Corn  alone . 

560  pounds. . . . 

177  pounds. . . . 
0.12  acre . 

7.00 

2.22 

Corn,  \  ration . 

Peanut  pasture . 

Corn,  §.... . U  raHnn 

fl 07  pounds _ 

\51  pounds . 

0.08  acre . 

}  1.97 

Cotton-seed  meal,  2 

Peanut  pasture . '. . 

Corn,  J  ration . 

162  pounds. . . . 
0.269  acre . 

2.02 

Peanut  pasture . 

Corn,  %  ration . 

127  pounds.... 
0.209  acre . 

1.59 

Peanut  pasture . 

Peanuts  alone . 

0.204  acre . 

Corn,  J  ration . 

275  pounds. . . . 
0.201  acre . 

3.44 

Peanut  pasture . 

Corn,  \  ration . 

189  pounds. . . . 
0.089  acre . 

2.36 

Peanut  pasture . 

Value  of 
1  acre  of 
peanuts 
in  terms 
of  corn. 


Bushrfs. 

85.6 


6  52. 9 

b  o': '7 


18.4 


56.9 


b  27.  7 


6  38.7 
6  50.8 


6  27.1 
6  78.  4 


a  Bulletin  54. 

6  Assuming  that  580  pounds  of  corn  are  required  to  make  100  pounds  gain. 
c  Bulletin  143  (average  of  three  years). 
d  Bulletin  122. 
e  Bulletin  83. 


(See  Table  1.) 


All  of  the  above  experimental  work  was  done  upon  poor  soils. 
The  producing  capacity  of  the  Arkansas  soil  was  about  30  bushels 
of  corn  and  that  of  the  Alabama  soil  about  12  to  15  bushels  an  acre. 
The  Spanish  variety  of  peanuts  was  used  in  all  cases.  If  the  soil 
upon  which  the  nuts  were  grown  had  been  good,  better  results 
could  have  been  secured  by  using  some  of  the  larger  varieties,  but 
when  the  soil  is  poor,  as  was  the  case  in  all  of  the  above  work,  too 
many  empty  hulls  are  produced  when  the  larger  varieties  are  grown. 

In  every  case  in  the  above  table  the  peanuts  were  used  profitably. 
In  some  cases  1  acre  of  peanuts  took  the  place  of  85  bushels  of  corn. 
I11  one  case  in  Alabama  1  acre  of  peanuts  took  the  place  of  only 
18.4  bushels  of  corn,  but  even  in  that  case  the  nuts  were  a  profitable 
crop.  It  will  be  seen  that  where  there  was  a  fair  crop  of  peanuts 
each  acre  was  equal  in  feeding  value  to  from  25  to  40  bushels  of 
corn.  The  average  of  the  Arkansas  work,  where  both  corn  and 
411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH.  31 

peanuts  were  used,  shows  that  the  corn  sold  for  $1.44  a  bushel  (if 
it  cost  $8  to  make  the  crop),  while  in  the  Alabama  tests,  where  corn 
was  used  with  peanuts,  it  brought  $1.08  a  bushel.  In  some  of  the 
Alabama  work  the  corn  returned  a  value  of  more  than  $1.25  a  bushel- 
It  should  also  be  remembered  in  this  connection  that  these  hog¬ 
grazing  crops  do  not  cost  a  cent  to  harvest;  the  hogs  save  the  expense 
by  consuming  the  crops  in  the  field.  Again,  when  the  hog  grazes 
on  the  crop  there  is  practically  no  danger  of  losing  it  on  account  of 
continued  rain  at  harvesting  time. 

The  above  peanuts  were  all  planted  from  May  1  to  July  1.  They 
were  ready  to  graze  from  90  to  120  days  after  planting. 

ALFALFA. 

Many  sections  of  the  South  are  admirably  suited  to  growing 
alfalfa.  When  the  farmer  is  so  situated  that  he  can  sell  alfalfa 
hay  it  may  not  be  wise  to  keep  the  pasture  grazed  down  with  hogs, 
but  at  certain  times  of  the  year  the  pasture  can  be  grazed  without 
at  all  injuring  the  hay  crop.  Some  farmers  are  so  situated  with 
reference  to  markets  that  it  would  be  far  more  profitable  to  keep 
the  alfalfa  pasture  grazed  down  by  hogs  than  to  undertake  to  make 
hay  of  it.  It  is  one  of  the  best  pastures  that  can  be  secured,  since 
it  furnishes  a  large  amount  of  feed  to  the  acre  and  the  grazing  season 
extends  over  several  months  of  the  year.  The  value  of  alfalfa 
pasture  for  hogs  is  shown  by  the  following  work  at  experiment 
stations : 


Table  16. — Experiment  station  ivorJc  showing  value  of  alfalfa  pasture  for  hogs. 


Station. 

Ration. 

Feed  to  make  100 
pounds  gain. 

Cost  of 
grain  for 
100 

pounds 

gain.fl 

Value  of 

1  acre  of 
alfalfa 
in  terms 
of  grain. 

Kansas  ft . 

Grain  alone . 

371  pounds . 

$5. 56 
4.51 

Pounds. 

Nebraska  c . 

Grain . 

301  pounds . 

Rape  pasture . 

0.093  acre . 

753 

Grain . 

300  pounds . 

4. 50 

Alfalfa  pasture . 

0.046  acre . 

1,544 

Corn,  80  per  cent . 

366  pounds . 

5.95 

Missouri  d . 

Shorts,  20  per  cent . 

92  pounds _ •_ _ 

Alfalfa  pasture . : . . . 

Corn,  95  per  cent . 

Tankage,  5  per  cent . 

Alfalfa  pasture . 

328  pounds  corn. . . 
17  pounds  tankage. 

}  4.44 

Corn,  90  per  cent . 

Tankage,  10  per  cent . 

Alfaifa  pasture . 

314  pounds  corn... 
35  pounds  tankage. 

|  4.62 

Corn  meal . 

389  pounds . 

|  C.  80 

5.01 

Middlings . 

129  pounds . 

Corn  meal . 

401  pounds . 

Green  alfalfa . 

Corn  meal . 

243  pounds . 

Skim  milk . 

729  pounds. . . ; _ 

5. 22 

«  Price  of  feeds:  Grain,  $30  a  ton;  corn,  70  cents  a  bushel;  shorts,  $30  a  ton;  tankage,  $40  a  ton;  middlings, 
$30  a  ton;  green  alfalfa,  $3  a  ton;  skim  milk,  30  cents  a  hundred  pounds. 

ft  Bulletin  124,  c  Bulletin  94,  d  Bulletin  79. 


4H 


32 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


While  the  rape  pasture  in  the  Kansas  test  proved  to  be  a  good 
feed  to  use  along  with  the  grain,  the  alfalfa  pasture  proved  to  be 
a  little  more  than  twice  as  valuable.  One  acre  of  rape  was  equal 
to  753  pounds  of  grain,  while  1  acre  of  alfalfa  pasture  was  equal 
to  1,544  pounds  of  grain.  The  pastures  were  grazed  only  98  days, 
whereas  the  alfalfa  pasture,  in  the  South  at  least,  can  be  grazed 
for  twice  that  length  of  time.  When  a  price  of  $30  a  ton  is  placed 
upon  the  grain  used,  an  acre  of  rape  pasture  proved  to  be  worth 
$11.29,  while  an  acre  of  alfalfa  pasture  was  worth  $23.16. 

In  the  Missouri  test  the  alfalfa  was  cut  and  carried  to  the  hogs, 
which  were  confined  in  a  dry  lot.  There  were  6  hogs  in  the  lot. 
They  ate  463  pounds  of  green  alfalfa  in  102  days.  The  author, 
Dean  H.  J.  Waters,  writes: 

It  was  not  expected  that  in  ordinary  farm  practice  the  green  material  would  be 
cut  and  fed  to  the  hogs  in  this  manner.  At  the  time  the  experiment  was  undertaken, 
however,  it  was  not  feasible  to  fence  off  areas  of  each  of  these  forage  crops  and  graze 
them.  Outside  of  the  extra  expense  required  for  cutting  and  hauling  this  material  to 
the  hogs,  it  was  not  considered  that  they  would  do  so  well  on  this  material  as  if  allowed 
to  graze,  for  when  grazing  they  would  be  able  to  select  their  material  and  would 
eat  a  larger  quantity  of  forage  than  it  was  possible  to  get  them  to  consume  in  a  pen 
when  it  was  cut  and  fed  to  them* in  the  manner  described.  It  is  safe,  therefore,  to 
assume  that  our  experiments  show  the  minimum  advantage  of  these  forage  crops, 
and  that  in  actual  practice  a  larger  benefit  would  accrue  from  the  use  of  these  mate¬ 
rials  than  our  experiments  show. 

SORGHUM. 

Sorghum  is  a  green  crop  well  thought  of  in  the  South  as  a  feed 
for  swine.  Its  chief  advantage  lies  in  the  large  yields  and  the  sure¬ 
ness  of  the  crop,  there  being  very  few  seasons  in  which  it  fails.  But 
it  must  be  remembered  in  planting  a  rotation  of  crops  that  sorghum 
is  not  a  legume,  so  that  the  land  will  not  be  made  better  on  account 
of  its  having  been  grown.  It  should  also  be  borne  in  mind  that 
corn  and  sorghum  do  not  make  up  a  balanced  ration  for  animals. 
They  are  both  low  in  protein,  so  if  sorghum  is  to  be  used  at  all,  the 
concentrate  feed  should  be  partly  made  up  of  a  feed  high  in  protein, 
as  cotton-seed  meal  or  tankage. 

The  following  table  shows  that  sorghum,  when  compared  with 
the  leguminous  crops,  is  a  very  poor  pasture  crop  for  hogs: 

411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


33 


Table  17. — Experiments  showing  value  of  sorghum  for  fattening  hogs. 


Station. 


Ration. 


Feed  to  make  100 
pounds  gain. 


Cost  of 
grain  for 
100  pounds 
gain. a 


Value  of  1  acre  of  sor¬ 
ghum  in  terms  of 
corn. 


Alabama  b 


Corn  alone 


456  pounds 


$5.  70 


Corn,  l  ration. .. 
Grazed  sorghum 


437  pounds 
0.57  acre. . 


5.  46 


0.6  bushel. 


Corn, | . 

Cotton-seed  meal,  J 
Grazed  sorghum. . 


ration 


'206  pounds 
J03  pounds 
0.37  acre. . 


3.  86 


Alabama  b 


Alabama  c 


Alabama  d 


Grazed  sorghum . 

Cotton-seed  meal,j/2  rat  0 
Soiled  sorghum . 

Cotton-seed  meal  ipral  0 

Corn, § . 

Cotton-seed  meal,  $ . 

Corn,  \  ration . 

Grazed  sorghum . 

Corn,  | . 

Cowpeas,  | . 

Cowpeas}-  rat*on . 

Grazed  sorghum . 


0.15  acre  c. . 
1314  pounds. 
\157  pounds. 

0.13  acre. . . 


fl81  pounds. 
\90  pounds.. 


212  pounds. 
106  pounds. 

362  pounds. 
1.57  acre. . . 


J>374  pounds(mixed) 
j-327  pounds(mixed) 


0.151  acre. 


5.90 


3.  39 
3.98 
4. 52 

7.02 

6. 13 


[4.3  bushels  corn. 

123  pounds  cotton-seed 
meal. 


2.3  bushels. 


2.7  bushels  corn. 


J2.7 

\2.7 


bushels  cowpeas. 


a  Prices  of  feed:  Corn,  70  cents  a  bushel;  cotton-seed  meal,  $25  a  ton;  cowpeas,  $1.25  a  bushel. 
b  Bulletin  143.  c  Sorghum  pasture  worthless  in  this  case.  d  Bulletin  122. 


The  above  sorghum  was  all  grazed  by  pigs  averaging  about  80 
to  100  pounds  in  weight.  They  were  turned  into  the  field  when  the 
seed  of  the  plants  were  either  ripe  or  in  the  dough  stage.  In  no  case 
was  the  sorghum  found  to  be  a  profitable  feed,  while  in  some  cases 
it  proved  to  be  a  detriment.  Corn  and  sorghum  pasture  do  not 
produce  satisfactory  or  economical  gains.  Even  when  the  ration  of 
corn  and  sorghum  was  supplemented  with  a  little  cotton-seed  meal 
or  cowpeas,  the  results  do  not  compare  favorably  with  those  secured 
when  a  leguminous  crop  was  used. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  it  is  very  hard  work  for  pigs  to  graze 
sorghum,  as  the  cane  must  be  ridden  down,  it  was  thought  that  it 
might  be  profitable  to  place  the  hogs  in  a  pen  and  carry  the  sorghum 
to  them  (soiling);  so  in  the  second  test  reported  above  this  method 
was  tried.  The  results  >were  a  little  better  than  when  the  hogs  grazed 
the  crop,  but  even  in  this  case  1  acre  of  sorghum  proved  to  be  worth 
but  $4.61.  That  acre  of  sorghum  could  have  been  made  more  valu¬ 
able  if  it  had  been  made  into  hay  or  silage  and  fed  to  some  other 
kind  of  animals. 

Sorghum  has  probably  one  valuable  place  as  a  hog  feed — to  help 
carry  the  brood  sows  through  the  summer  months  economically  when 

411 


34 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


the  pastures  become  short.  Sorghum  is  a  bulky  feed  and  is  more 
suited  to  ruminants  than  to  the  hog.  The  young  hog  makes  no  use 
at  all  of  the  leaves  and  the  fibrous  part  of  the  stalk;  his  stomach  is 
too  small  for  such  bulky  roughage,  but  older  hogs  can  use  roughage 
to  a  considerable  extent. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  this  bulletin  reports  no  sorghum 
experiments  in  which  the  plant  was  grazed  when  young;  in  every 
case  the  sorghum  was  far  enough  advanced  so  that  the  juice  was  sweet 
to  the  taste.  Some  farmers,  however,  report  success  with  the  sorghum 
if  the  hogs  are  turned  into  the  field  when  the  plant  is  about  1  foot  in 
height,  thus  inducing  them  to  eat  the  tender  blades  along  with  the 
immature  juice. 

AMOUNT  OF  GRAIN  TO  FEED  WHEN  HOGS  ARE  ON  PASTURE. 

It  would  be  of  interest  to  the  farmer  to  know  just  how  much  grain 
to  feed  along  with  the  pasture  crops.  Of  course  the  amount  of  grain 
fed  depends  upon  the  kind  of  pasture  used  and  whether  the  animals 
are  just  “ being  carried  along”  or  are  being  rushed  to  a  finish.  One 
or  two  stations  have  undertaken  to  answer  the  question.  The  Utah 
station  has  done  several  years’  work  in  feeding  hogs  on  a  pasture 
made  up  of  mixed  grasses,  consisting  partly  of  alfalfa.  The  chief 
object  of  the  work  was  to  determine  the  proper  amount  of  grain  to 
use  along  with  their  pastures.  The  results  were  as  follows: 

Table  18. — Work  at  Utah  Experiment  Station  in  feeding  grain  to  hogs  along  with  pasture. 


Ration. 

Founds  of 
feed  to 
make  100 
pounds 
gain. 

Cost  of 
grain  for 
100  pounds 
gain  (grain 
$25  a  ton). 

Average 

daiiy 

gains. 

Full  grain  plus  pasture . 

374 

$4.  67 
4.  42 

Pounds. 

1.21 

Three-fourths  grain  plus  pasture . 

354 

1.01 

One-half  grain  plus  pasture . 

302 

3.  77 

.  75 

One-fourth  grain  plus  pasture . 

247 

3. 08 

.55 

No  account  was  kept  of  the  amount  of  pasture  used  by  each  lot, 
but  it  is  fair  to  suppose  that  those  lots  which  received  light  grain 
rations  consumed  more  pasture  than  did  the  lots  which  received  a 
heavy  grain  feed.  But  leaving  the  pasture  out  of  consideration,  it 
is  seen  that  the  smaller  the  amount  of  grain  used  the  cheaper  and 
slower  were  the  gains. 

The  Alabama  station  has  done  some  recent  work  along  the  same 
line  with  soy  beans  as  the  pasture.  Accurate  account  has  been  kept 
both  of  the  amount  of  pasture  consumed  by  each  lot  of  hogs  and  the 

411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


35 


cost  of  putting  in  and  cultivating  the  crop.  Estimating  rent  at  $2 
an  acre,  it  has  cost  the  station  $10.50  an  acre  to  seed,  fertilize,  and 
cultivate  a  soy-bean  crop.  The  average  farmer  can  make  the  crop 
cheaper  than  did  the  station,  as  the  farmer  can  secure  labor  more 
advantageously  than  the  station  could.  The  results  secured  at  the 
Alabama  station  were  as  follows: 


Table  19. —  Work  at  Alabama  Experiment  Station  in  feeding  corn  to  hogs  along  with 

soy-bean  pasture. 


Ration. 

Average 

daily 

gains. 

Feed  to  make  100 
pounds  gain. 

Cost  of 
grain  for 
10O  pounds 
gain. 

Cost  of 
grain  plus 
cost  of  pas¬ 
ture  for  100 
pounds 
gain. 

Three-fourths  corn  and  soy-bean  pasture . 

Pounds. 

1.67 

130  pounds  corn,  0.164 

$1. 62 

$3. 34 

One-half  corn  and  soy-bean  pasture . 

1. 14 

acre  pasture. 

Ill  pounds  corn,  0.206 

1.39 

3.  55 

One-fourth  corn  and  soy-bean  pasture . 

1.30 

acre  pasture. 

54  pounds  corn,  0.219 

.67 

2. 97 

acre  pasture. 

It  is  seen  that  while  the  cheapest  gains  were  made  by  the  lot 
receiving  the  smallest  amount  of  corn,  even  when  the  amount  of 
pasture  used  is  also  taken  into  consideration,  still  there  was  not  a 
gradual  decrease  in  the  cost  of  gains  as  the  amount  of  grain  was 
reduced.  The  second  lot,  while  producing  100  pounds  of  pork  at  a 
cheaper  corn  cost  than  the  first  lot,  did  not  make  pork  as  cheaply  as 
the  latter  when  the  area  of  pasture  consumed  was  taken  into  account. 

Several  points  must  be  taken  into  consideration  before  one  can 
determine  what  is  the  right  amount  of  corn  to  feed  along  with  pasture 
when  hogs  are  being  finished  for  the  market.  First,  the  condition  of 
the  hog  at  the  end  of  the  feeding  period  must  be  taken  into  account. 
If  the  animal  is  to  be  marketed  directly  off  the  pasture  crop,  it  would 
no  doubt  be  profitable  to  feed  him  grain  while  grazing  the  pasture  on 
account  of  the  beneficial  effect  the  added  grain  would  have  upon  the 
carcass.  This  is  desirable,  because  the  hog  which  receives  but  a 
small  allowance  of  grain  in  addition  to  a  pasture  comes  through  to 
the  end  with  a  big  belly  region  which  makes  him  dress  a  low  per  cent. 
Although  he  may  gain  as  rapidly  as  the  animal  that  receives  more 
grain,  he  will  not  be  in  as  acceptable  killing  condition  as  will  the 
former,  so  the  butcher  will  place  a  lower  price  upon  the  pasture-fed 
animal.  Second,  the  amount  of  corn  at  the  disposal  of  the  feeder 
must  also  receive  consideration.  When  there  are'  large  amounts  of 
corn  upon  the  farm  to  be  disposed  of,  there  is  no  better  way  to 
market  it  than  through  hogs  on  pasture,  so  the  problem  may  resolve 

411 


36 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


itself  into  a  question  of  finding  a  good  and  high-priced  market  for 
corn.  When  this  is  the  case,  it  would  no  doubt  be  wise  to  feed  the 
animals  liberally  of  the  corn,  so  that  the  supply  may  all  be  used  before 
the  spring  months  arrive.  No  farmer  can  afford  under  present  con¬ 
ditions  to  sell  his  corn  directly  upon  the  market  as  corn,  even  for  $1 
a  bushel.  He  should  market  it  through  hogs.  In  the  Alabama  test 
from  $1.42  to  $2.82  was  secured  for  each  bushel  of  corn  fed  when  hogs 
sold  for  5  cents  a  pound  live  weight.  Some  farmers  hold  that  the 
most  profitable  method  is  to  feed  no  grain  at  all  while  the  hogs  have 
the  freedom  of  a  good  pasture,  but  it  is  seen  from  the  above  prices 
realized  upon  corn  that  the  man  who  has  corn  to  sell  should  make 
more  money  by  feeding  it  in  conjunction  with  the  pasture.  Third, 
the  amount  of  available  pasture  will  have  something  to  do  with  the 
amount  of  corn  to  feed.  If  the  area  of  pasture  is  small  for  the  number 
of  hogs  on  hand,  it  would  pay  to  be  liberal  with  the  corn  in  order 
that  the  pasture  may  be  extended  over  as  long  a  time  as  possible. 
Fourth,  the  amount  of  grain  used  depends  upon  the  length  of  time 
the  farmer  has  in  which  to  get  the  animals  ready  for  the  market.  If 
prices  are  ruling  low,  it  may  be  wise  to  simply  carry  the  animals  along 
slowly  until  the  prices  advance.  If  hogs  are  selling  at  a  good  figure 
and  there  is  danger  of  their  depreciating  in  value  on  account  of  prices 
falling,  it  would  be  the  part  of  wisdom  to  finish  rapidly  through  the 
liberal  use  of  grain. 

ROOT  AND  TUBER  CROPS. 

It  may  be  stated,  as  a  general  rule,  that  root  crops  can  not  be  as 
profitably  used  for  fattening  hogs  as  can  some  of  the  crops  hereto¬ 
fore  mentioned.  The  South  must  adopt  a  system  of  farming  that 
requires  as  little  labor  as  possible,  and  when  the  root  plants  are 
grown  much  labor  must  be  expended  upon  them.  One  of  the  advan¬ 
tages  of  stock  farming  is  that  it  lends  itself  to  handling  large  areas  of 
land  without  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  amount  of  labor  used. 
If,  through  the  addition  of  stock  to  our  system  of  farming,  we  should 
materially  increase  the  amount  of  labor  required,  the  business  could 
not  be  made  a  success,  as  there  is  but  little  extra  labor  to  be  had. 
Then  again,  the  effect  of  the  crop  upon  the  soil  should  never  be  over¬ 
looked.  The  common  root  crops  now  in  use  are  not  legumes,  so  the 
soil  will  not  be  improved  as  a  result  of  their  having  been  grown. 
Nevertheless  some  farmers  are  so  situated  and  their  soils  are  of  such 
a  character  that  they  can  probably  use  root  crops  to  advantage. 
Some  of  these  root  crops  have  been  tested  by  the  southern  stations, 
as  shown  in  the  following  table: 

411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


37 


Table  20. — Experiment  station  work  with  root  crops  for  fattening  hogs. 


Station. 

Ration. 

Feed  to 
make  100 
pounds 
gain. 

Cost  of  100 
pounds 
gain.® 

Pounds. 

Florida  b . 

Corn  alone . 

999 

$12. 48 

Wheat  middlings . 

505 

Sweet  potatoes . 

505 

1-  9.6/ 

Wheat  middlings . 

163 

1 

Peas . 

122 

[  0.15 

Cassava . 

325 

Alabama  c . 

Sweet  potatoes,  f . ; . 

1,000 

Cowpeas  (ground),  £ . 

334 

>  13.  Ill 

Com,  \ . 

200 

Cowpeas  (ground),  \ . 

200 

1  7.50 

a  Price  of  feeds:  Corn,  70  cents  a  bushel;  middlings,  $30  a  ton;  potatoes,  25  cents  a  bushel;  cassava,  20 
cents  a  hundredweight. 
b  Bulletin  55.  c  Bulletin  93. 


Very  seldom  are  satisfactory  results  reported  where  root  crops  are 
used;  the  results  given  above  show  root  crops  to  be  of  little  value  as 
a  hog  feed. 

At  Cornell  a  the  Irish  potato  was  fed  both  cooked  and  raw.  A 
little  grain  and  skim  milk  were  fed  in  addition  to  the  potatoes.  Over 
400  pounds  of  potatoes  were  eaten,  but  the  pigs  failed  to  make  progress 
and  the  test  was  closed. 

At  the  Central  Experimental  Farm,6  Ottawa,  Canada,  reasonable 
results  were  secured  when  cooked  potatoes  were  used,  but  raw  pota¬ 
toes  produced  practically  no  gains. 

With  regard  to  the  Alabama  test  reported  above,  Duggar  states: 

The  results  show  that  under  the  conditions  of  this  experiment  1  pound  of  corn  was 
worth  much  more  than  3  pounds  of  sweet  potatoes.  If  corn  were  worth  50  cents  a 
bushel  these  results  would  give  sweet  potatoes  a  value  considerably  below  17  cents. 
Probably  10  and  12  cents  per  bushel  would  be  a  close  estimate  of  the  nutritive  value 
of  a  bushel  of  potatoes  fed  with  cowpeas  in  the  proportion  employed  in  the  experi¬ 
ment.  It  is  plain  that  sweet  potatoes  could  not  profitably  be  grown,  stored,  and  fed 
to  hogs,  even  if  each  bushel  could  be  converted  into  pork  worth  10  to  15  cents.  This 
does  not  imply  that  sweet  potatoes  can  not  be  profitably  employed  as  a  food  for  hogs. 
But  a  profit  is  possible  only  by  saving  the  expense  of  harvesting — the  heaviest  single 
item  of  expense  in  sweet-potato  culture.  If  the  hogs  do  the  rooting,  the  sweet  potato 
is  doubtless  a  cheaper  food  than  corn  on  some  sandy  soils  that  yield  ten  to  fifteen  times 
as  many  bushels  of  sweet  potatoes  as  of  corn. 

Duggar’s  subsequent  experience  in  feeding  hogs  on  sweet  potatoes 
in  the  ground  did  not  prove  to  be  profitable.  He  writes:  “The  pota¬ 
toes  were  not  eaten  with  relish,  and  after  being  routed  up  they  were 
left  upon  the  surface,  some  of  them  remaining  there  until  they 

decayed.” 

%/ 


411 


a  Bulletin  199. 


&  Bulletin  33. 


38 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


CROP  SUCCESSION  FOR  HOG  FEEDING. 

There  lias  been  no  effort  to  present  in  the  preceding  pages  all  of  the 
summer  growing  plants  that  can  be  used  for  grazing  hogs.  Only  a 
few  of  the  most  prominent  ones  have  been  brought  to  the  reader’s 
attention.  The  farmer  who  knows  his  own  conditions  and  his  own 
soil  can  introduce  into  his  cropping  system  many  plants  that  have 
not  been  mentioned  at  all.  The  following  table  gives  data  con¬ 
cerning  a  number  of  suitable  plants. 


Table  21. — Summer  and  fall  growing  crops  suitable  for  hog  grazing .« 


Crop. 

Time  to  plant. 

Amount  of  seed  to  the  acre. 

Number  of 
days  from 
planting  to 
grazing 
time. 

Alfalfa  . 

Feb.  25-Apr.  1 . . . . 

15-25  pounds . 

75-  90 

Chufas  . 

Mar.  1 5-J  une  1 . . . . 

3-4  pecks . 

120-150 

Cowpeas . 

May  1-July  10 . 

J  bushel  (drilled),  1J  bushels  (broadcast) . 

75-  90 

Soy  beans . 

Apr.  1-June  30 _ 

i  bushel  (drilled),  14  bushels  (broadcast) . 

90-120 

Japan  clover  . 

Mar.  1-Mar.  15. . . . 

24  pounds . 

60-  75 

Oats  . 

Feb.  1-Mar.  20 

l|-3  bushels . 

75-  90 

Peanuts . 

May  1-July  1 . 

1-2  bushels  (not  hulled) . 

90-120 

Rape . 

Mar.  1-Mar.  31 ... . 

4-6  pounds  (drilled),  9-10  pounds  (broadcast) . 

60-  75 

Sorghum . 

Apr.  1-July  1 . 

14-2  bushels . 

60-  90 

Velvet  bean . 

May  10- June  20. . . 

lj  pecks  (in  drills) . 

100-130 

a  Alabama  Bulletin  143. 


FINISHING  HOGS  AFTER  PASTURE  CROPS  ARE  EXHAUSTED. 

The  majority  of  the  farmers  of  the  South  who  make  use  of  green 
crops  for  fattening  hogs  dispose  of  the  animals  when  the  crops  are 
exhausted  without  finishing  them  upon  grain  for  a  short  period  in  a 
dry  lot.  There  is  a  time  when  the  hog  should  be  penned  up  in  a  lot  and 
fed  grain  alone,  but  that  time  is  not  at  the  beginning  of  the  feeding 
operations.  He  should  be  penned  up  after  the  pasture  crops  are 
gone  and  fed  grain  alone  for  a  few  days  before  slaughtering  or  mar¬ 
keting.  There  are  several  reasons  for  following  this  plan.  First,  the 
hog  after  coming  off  the  pasture  is  in  just  the  proper  condition  to  make 
gains  economically  and  rapidly  for  a  short  time.  He  is  in  excellent 
health,  active,  and,  as  a  rule,  his  frame  is  not  covered  with  as  much 
fat  as  it  should  carry.  The  pasture  has  tended  to  develop  his  frame 
at  the  expense  of  fat,  especially  if  he  is  a  young  animal.  After  he  is 
fed  in  a  pen  from  twenty-five  to  twenty-eight  days  he  looks  better, 
and  is  better,  than  when  he  came  off  pasture,  and  is  actually  worth 
more  to  the  consumer  or  butcher  as  he  is  fatter  and  will  dress  out  a 
higher  percentage  of  good  marketable  meat  than  if  lie  had  been  sold 
directly  from  the  pasture.  Second,  when  hogs  have  been  grazed 

411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


39 


upon  peanuts,  soy  beans,  and  certain  other  green  crops,  the  meat  and 
lard  have  become  soft,  which  makes  the  animal  objectionable  to  the 
butcher  as  well  as  for  home  consumption.  This  soft  meat  can  be 
hardened  very  materially  if  the  hogs  are  fed  upon  grain  for  only  a 
short  period  after  the  crops  are  exhausted. 

What  shall  the  animal  be  fed  during  this  short  dry-lot  finishing 
period  ?  Corn  is  good ;  corn  in  combination  with  cotton-seed  meal  is 
better  and  is  cheaper  than  corn  alone,  as  the  addition  of  cotton¬ 
seed  meal  to  the  ration  renders  the  meat  hard  more  rapidly  than 
when  corn  alone  is  used.  If  the  animals  are  to  be  fed  not  more  than 
twenty-one  days  in  this  finishing  period  one-third  of  the  total  ration 
may  be  made  up  of  cotton-seed  meal.  If  it  is  likely  that  the  last 
period  will  be  extended  over  more  than  twenty-one  days  the  propor¬ 
tion  of  cotton-seed  meal  should  be  cut  down  to  one-fifth  or  one-sixth 
of  the  whole  ration,  and  the  finishing  period  extended  not  beyond 
five  weeks  in  all. 

INCREASE  IN  SOIL  FERTILITY  DUE  TO  GRAZING  HOGS. 

Inasmuch  as  green  crops  suitable  for  hog  feeding  can  be  main¬ 
tained  in  the  South  practically  every  month  in  the  year,  it  is  possible 
for  the  southern  farmer  to  make  more  money  than  the  northern 
farmer  upon  hog-producing  operations,  and  the  profits  made  are  in 
proportion  to  the  amount  of  green  crops  used.  But  in  addition  to 
making  ready  money  on  the  hogs  themselves  the  farmer  who  grows 
leguminous  crops  and  grazes  them  off  with  hogs  has  a  fertilizer  factory 
on  his  own  farm.  In  1898  the  Arkansas  station®  grazed  hogs  upon 
areas  of  peanuts,  chufas,  and  soy  beans.  The  following  two  years  the 
land  was  planted  in  cotton,  and  data  were  collected  to  determine  what 
effect  this  grazing  might  have  upon  cotton  yields.  The  results  per 
acre  were  as  follows: 


Table  22. — Fertilizing  effect  of  crops  grazed  by  hogs. 


• 

Seed  cot¬ 
ton,  1899. 

Seed  cot¬ 
ton,  1900. 

Average 
yield  of 
seed  cotton, 
1899-1900. 

Average  per 
cent  increase 
in  seed  cotton 
due  to 
grazing  and 
growing  crop. 

Value  of  in¬ 
crease  per 
acre  each 
year  (lint  11 
cents,  seed 

00  cents). 

Cotton  following  peanuts  grazed  by 

hogs . . . 

Cotton  following  soy  beans  grazed  by 

hogs . . . . . 

Cotton  following  chufas  grazed  by  hogs. 
Cotton  following  corn  not  grazed . 

Pounds. 

1,771 

1,588 

1,200 

1,005 

Pounds. 

1,134 

1,020 

981 

798 

Pounds. 

1,452.5 

1,304.0 

1,090.0 

901.5 

61.1 

44. 6 
.  20.9 

$22.81 

10.35 

7.08 

a  Bulletin  88. 


40 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


The  effect  upon  the  soil  of  growing  a  legume  and  then  grazing  it 
off  with  hogs  is  remarkable;  for  instance,  in  the  case  of  soy  beans 
and  peanuts  the  increased  yield  of  cotton  was  44.6  and  61.1  per  cent, 
respectively.  The  effects  of  growing  these  crops  and  grazing  them 
off  does  not  stop  with  the  cotton  crop  grown  the  year  immediately 
following  the  grazing.  The  data  show  that  the  increase  over  the 
corn  lot  was  still  considerable  in  the  second  year. 

Of  course  in  the  cases  where  peanuts  and  soy  beans  were  used  the 
increased  cotton  yields  were  not  due  entirely  to  the  grazing;  part  of 
the  benefits  were  due  to  the  fact  that  the  crops  were  legumes,  the 
effect  of  which  would  be  to  place  nitrogen  in  the  soil  for  the  use  of 
subsequent  crops.  But  with  the  chufa  pasture  we  have  a  case  where 
the  increased  cotton  yields  can  be  attributed  only  to  the  grazing  and 
the  supplementary  grain  fed,  as  the  chufa  plant  is  not  a  legume.  In 
this  case  the  increased  cotton  yields  for  the  average  of  the  two  years 
following  the  chufas  was  20.9  per  cent  over  the  cotton  crops  which 
had  followed  a  corn  crop  without  being  grazed  off  by  the  hogs.  It 
is  therefore  apparent  that  a  farmer  can  expect  to  get  more  cotton 
when  it  is  planted  on  an  area  where  hogs  have  grazed  or  where  pea¬ 
nuts,  soy  beans,  or  other  legumes  have  been  grown  than  he  can  secure 
from  an  area  where  hogs  have  not  been  grazed. 

BREEDS  OF  SWINE. 

The  question  is  often  asked,  What  is  the  best  breed  of  swine  for 
the  South?  The  answer  can  not  be  given  by  naming  any  one  par¬ 
ticular  breed;  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  “best”  breed.  One  breed 
may  be  specially  adapted  for  a  certain  purpose,  while  another  may 
be  better  suited  for  a  different  object.  The  best  breed  for  any  par¬ 
ticular  farmer  is  usuallv  the  breed  that  he  likes  best. 

The  breeds  of  hogs  are  divided  into  two  general  classes,  the  bacon 
type  and  the  lard  type.  The  Yorkshire  and  the  Tamworth  breeds 
belong  to  the  bacon  type,  while  other  breeds,  as  the  Berkshire,  the 
Poland-China,  and  the  Duroc-Jersey,  belong  to  the  lard  type. 

LARGE  YORKSHIRE. 

The  individuals  of  the  Large  Yorkshire  breed  are  noted  for  their 
extreme  length  and  depth  of  body,  from  which  can  be  taken  large 
pieces  of  meat  suitable  for  bacon.  They  are  not  as  broad  as  the  lard 
type  of  hog  across  the  shoulders,  backs,  and  hams.  The  Yorkshire 
is  a  very  large  breed — probably  the  largest  of  the  breeds  of  swine 
known  in  America.  For  use  in  the  South  their  color  is  against  them, 
as  they  are  white,  and  in  this  section  there  is  strong  objection  to 

411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


41 


white  hogs  on  the  ground  that  they  are  more  subject  to  skin  diseases 
than  the  black  or  red  hogs.  This  is  practically  the  only  point,  how¬ 
ever,  that  can  be  brought  against  them  for  southern  conditions.  They 
are  good  rustlers,  can  get  about  over  large  areas,  and  they  are  unex¬ 
celled  as  grazers. 

The  Yorkshire  is  not  an  early  maturing  breed;  the  smaller  breeds 
of  hogs  can  be  prepared  for  the  market  in  less  time,  but  Yorkshires 
are  rapid  growers  and  are  capable  of  making  much  of  this  growth 


Fig.  4.  A  good  two-year-old  Large  Yorkshire  sow. 

from  pastures.  F urthermore,  they  are  good  breeders,  good  mothers, 
and  produce  large  litters  regularly. 


TAMWORTH. 

The  Tamworths  are  the  ideal  bacon  type.  The  bodies  are  extremely 
long  and  moderately  deep.  The  legs,  the  head,  and  the  neck  are  also 
long  and  coarse  when  compared  with  the  hogs  of  the  lard  type.  The 
back  is  not  as  broad  as  that  of  the  Yorkshire. 

The  Tamworths  have  the  advantage  of  the  Yorkshires  in  color,  as 
they  are  red.  They  will  attain  a  size  almost  equal  to  that  of  the 
Yorkshire.  But  it  is  not  probable  that  the  Tamworths  will  become 
popular  in  the  South  for  many  years  to  come,  as  one  of  the  duties  of 

411 


42 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


the  purebred  boar  in  the  South  is  to  refine  and  make  more  compact 
the  scrub.  This  the  Tamworth  will  not  do  as  satisfactorily  as  will 


Fig.  5. — A  good  type  of  Tamworth  boar. 


some  of  the  other  breeds,  as  he  is  long  and  coarse  in  legs  and  head 
and  light  in  hams. 

The  Tamworths  are  good  rustlers,  very  prolific,  and  the  meat  is 
of  the  highest  quality. 

BERKSHIRE. 

The  Berkshire  breed  is  one  of  the  old  and  well-established  lard 
types  of  hogs.  In  form  they  are  long,  broad,  deep,  and  low.  They 
are  much  shorter  on  their  legs  and  have  a  shorter  head  and  neck  and 
a  better  developed  ham  than  the  bacon  type.  While  the  back  of  the 
Berkshire  is  broader  than  that  of  the  hogs  of  the  bacon  types,  still 
it  is  not  as  broad  as  that  of  the  Poland-China.  The  modern  Berk¬ 
shire  breeders  are  working  for  a  back  medium  in  width  and  for  a  side 
long  and  deep  and  free  from  wrinkles. 

In  color  the  breed  is  black,  with  white  points  in  the  face,  on  the 
tip  of  the  tail,  and  on  the  feet.  Sometimes  a  splash  of  white  is  seen 
on  the  fore  leg.  As  will  be  seen  in  figure  6,  the  nose  is  short,  the 
face  dished,  and  the  ears  stand  erect  without  a  droop  at  the  tip. 

411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


43 


The  Berkshires  are  admirably  suited  to  the  South.  They  are  good 
rustlers,  fatten  at  almost  any  age,  and  cross  well  with  the  inferior 
hogs  of  the  country.  The  quality  of  the  meat  is  good,  also.  While 


Fig.  6.— Berkshire  sow  in  show  condition. 


they  are  relatively  strong  in  breeding  qualities,  still  they  are  not  as 
good  breeders  as  the  Yorkshires,  Tamworths,  or  Duroc- Jerseys. 
They  are,  however,  more  prolific  than  the  Poland-Chinas. 

POLAND-CHINA. 

The  Poland-China  breed  of  hogs  originated  in  the  State  of  Ohio. 
This  breed  is  considered  the  ideal  of  the  lard  type  of  hog.  The  indi¬ 
viduals  are  broad  on  the  back,  compact,  low,  and  dress  a  high  per 
cent  of  marketable  meat.  The  back  is  broader  and  shorter  than 
that  of  the  Berkshire,  but  the  latter  has  the  advantage  of  the  Poland- 
China  in  length  of  side. 

Figure  7  shows  the  face  of  the  Poland-China  to  be  longer  and  not 
dished  so  much  as  that  of  the  Berkshire.  While  the  ideal  ear  of  the 
Poland-China  hog  stands  erect,  still  the  tips  of  the  ears  should  droop. 
The  large,  overhanging  ear  is  very  objectionable  to  Poland-China 
breeders.  In  color  the  Poland-China  is  black,  with  six  white  points — 
on  the  face,  on  the  tip  of  the  tail,  and  on  the  feet. 

411 


44 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


The  Poland -China  was  originally  a  very  large  hog,  but  has  been 
bred  for  refinement  and  compactness  so  long  that  at  the  present 
time  it  will  not  weigh  as  much  as  the  Berkshire.  Poland-Chinas  are 
good  feeders  and  early  maturers.  They  are  suited  rather  to  lot  feed¬ 
ing  than  to  pasture  feeding,  as  they  have  not  the  rustling  qualities 


Fig.  7.— Poland-China  brood  sow  in  pasture  condition. 


of  some  of  the  other  breeds.  Still  they  will  make  good  use  of 
pastures. 

The  meat  of  this  breed  is  not  as  high  in  quality  as  that  of  the  Berk¬ 
shire;  it  is  tender  and  fine  grained,  but  there  is  more  fat  than  the 
average  consumer  likes,  and  the  fat  is  not  suitably  distributed  with 
the  lean.  The  Poland-China  is  not  as  good  as  the  Berkshire  or  the 
Duroc-Jersey  in  breeding  qualities. 

DUROC-JERSEY. 

The  tendency  of  the  Duroc-Jersey  breeders  is  to  approach  the 
Poland-China  type.  Originally  the  Duroc-Jersey  was  a  large,  coarse 
animal,  but  of  recent  years  the  object  has  been  to  breed  out  the 
coarseness  of  bone,  head,  and  ears.  While  much  of  the  roughness 
has  been  eliminated,  still  the  Duroc-Jerseys  are  not  as  refined  and 

411 


FEEDING  HOGS  TN  THE  SOUTH. 


45 


compact  as  the  Poland-Chinas.  In  color  the  Duroc-Jersey  is  cherry 
red;  sandy  red  is  very  objectionable  to  the  breeders.  The  pictures 
show  that  when  compared  with  the  Berkshire  or  Poland-China  the 
Du  roc-Jersey  has  a  head  and  face  longer  and  coarser  than  either  of 
them.  The  ears  do  not  stand  erect;  they  fall  forward  and  lie  close 
to  the  head. 

The  Duroc-Jersey  is  exceedingly  well  adapted  to  the  South.  It  is 
a  more  prolific  breed  than  either  the  Berkshire  or  the  Poland-China. 


Fig.  8.— Dui'oc- Jersey  sow  in  fair  show  condition 

Duroc-Jersey  sows  are  also  better  milkers  and  mothers  than  the 
Berkshires  or  Poland-Chinas.  The  Duroc-Jerseys  are  also  one  of  the 
best  grazers  that  we  have;  they  are  strong  and  active  and  can  graze 
over  large  areas.  Owing  to  the  roughness  that  is  still  found  in  some 
individuals  of  this  breed,  they  can  not  be  expected  to  mature  as 
early  as  the  Berkshires  or  Poland-Chinas. 


CHESTER  WHITE. 


The  Chester  White  is  a  popular  hog  in  some  of  the  Northern  States, 
but  in  the  South  this  breed  is  not  so  desirable,  because  of  its  color. 


411 


46 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


Many  of  the  Chester  Whites  raised  in  the  South  are  of  the  family 
known  as  the  “Ohio  Improved  Chesters”  (O.  I.  C.). 

As  a  breed  the  Chester  White  is  large,  long  in  body,  has  a  heavy 
bone,  and  is  not  as  refined  or  compact  as  the  Poland-China.  For 
the  last  few  vears  the  Chester  White  breeders  have  been  selecting 
for  refinement  and  compactness.  In  color  the  breed  is  white;  blue 
spots  are  often  seen  upon  the  skin  along  the  back  and  sides.  If  it 
were  not  for  their  color,  the  Chester  Whites  would  soon  occupy 
much  the  same  position  in  the  South  as  the  Duroc-Jerseys,  because 


Fig.  9  —Chester  White  sow  in  show  condition. 


they  are  good  mothers,  good  grazers,  and  very  prolific.  The  quality 
of  the  meat  is  about  like  that  of  the  Duroc-Jersey. 

The  farmer  who  is  about  to  adopt  a  breed  should  be  sure  to  select 
one  of  the  standard  and  common  breeds  of  his  own  State.  Many 
men  make  the  mistake  of  introducing  a  breed  new  to  the  section,  and 
when  the  time  comes  that  a  new  boar  must  be  secured  much  diffi¬ 
culty  and  expense  are  incurred  before  a  satisfactory  one  can  be 
found.  Therefore  a  breed  should  usually  be  selected  which  has  a 
good  representation  in  the  State  in  which  the  farmer  lives. 

411 


FEEDING  HOGS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


47 


CONCLUSIONS. 

1.  Hogs  can  be  raised  at  a  profit  in  the  South,  and  southern  farm¬ 
ers  should  raise  more  of  them. 

2.  Hogs  can  not  be  raised  profitably  on  corn  alone. 

3.  While  pork  can  sometimes  be  made  at  a  profit  when  corn  is 
supplemented  with  nothing  but  a  concentrated  feed,  still  it  is  not 
wise  to  use  concentrated  supplements  alone. 

4.  Hogs  can  be  produced  cheaper  when  pastures  are  used  along 
with  the  grains  than  when  grains  are  used  alone.  By  means  of  pas¬ 
ture  crops  pork  can  be  made  cheaper  in  the  South  than  it  is  possible 
to  make  it  in  the  corn  belt. 

5.  The  advantages  arising  from  the  use  of  pastures  are: 

Pork  costs  only  one-third  to  one-half  as  much  when  pastures  are 
used  as  when  concentrated  feeds  alone  are  used. 

The  soils  are  improved  very  materially  as  a  result  of  growing  the 
legumes  for  the  hogs  and  feeding  extra  grains  to  the  animals. 

The  crops  are  harvested  (through  the  hogs)  without  danger  of  loss 
from  rains  and  without  expense. 

The  hogs  are  under  favorable  health  conditions;  therefore  losses 
from  disease  will  be  lessened. 


[A  list  giving  the  titles  of  all  Farmers’  Bulletins  available  for  distribution  will  be 
sent  free  upon  application  to  any  Member  of  Congress  or  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture.] 
411 


o 


